So, Scissorhanded Weinsteins actually wound up leaving the film alone...what a miracle. Good thing they didn't follow through on their plans. Although they didn't bother even throwing in the original theatrical trailer, the most important thing is the movie is presented as it should.
shareNowadays with so many companies releasing foreign/cult films on DVD it's becoming increasingly difficult to get away with that sh!t. I can tell you that I'm certainly not crying over Harvey's financial woes.
My biggest problem with the Weinstein release (aside from the lack of extras) was the cover. Ya think they're going for the "young black male" demographic or what? I mean come on, did those three even have speaking roles? At least they had Nascimento in the background, but where's Matias or Neto? Did they really think people were going to believe it was told from the perspective of the criminals or what?
I just got the region 4 DVD. Although it says in the back cover "Portuguese 2.0" actually it's a very aggressive 5.1 mix. One of the best audio tracks I've heard on DVD.
It also contains 2 trailers, plus like 35 min of interviews with the cast and crew. 35 min might sound too little but the clips are very concise. I.e. José Padilha explains the true facts behind the theft of a previous cut that was sold in the black market before the movie premier. Padilha explains the reason why the Final Cut was altered. It wasn't because that previous cut was stolen but due artistic reasons, Padilha says.
Finally it includes a digital copy to use with compatible devices. I haven't tried it on my ipod so I can't comment on the quality of the copy, but it's a cool feature.
The problem for people in the states is that this version only includes spanish and portuguese subs.
Thanks for the info, but you didn't clarify the fact that the Final Cut was the Final Cut EVERYWHERE. The leaked cut had scenes the director had no intention of ever releasing, especially in Brazil, and it wasn't much that was cut out anyways. The Final Cut is also NOT the cut the Weinsteins originally said they wanted, either. The cut they proposed would have RADICALLY changed the film. The U.S. Region 1 DVD contains EXACTLY the SAME cut as the Brazilian R4 DVD, which I have seen. As a Spanish speaker and reader, I would have kept the R4 DVD but the subtitles were terrible because they softened all the curse words said by the characters.
shareWell now you have made it clear. The Final Cut is the ONLY official cut.
And you are right, the spanish subs are not really that good. I speak portuguese fluently, so I just turned on the subs now and then in order to check them out.
However people who speaks spanish honestly wouldn't miss most the cursing words. Most of them sounds identical or nearly identical both in spanish and portuguese.
cheers.
"104 mins approx" it says on mr Blu Ray (UK)
"111 minuten" on the R2 DVD "Tropa de Elite" on amazon.de
"115 min" on the French DVD R2 Tropa de elite - troupe d'élite on amazon.fr
Now ALL 3 these are PAL (note: NTSC runs longer due to the format of frames per second) so there can't be any reason other than a longer film.
I know they could have made errors but it's annoying me that there may be a longer version out there... anyone compared?
Also does anyone know of a version with director's commentary?