Product Description

A Caribbean island in the mid-1800's. Nature has made it a paradise; man has made it a hell. Slaves on vast Portuguese sugar plantations are ready to turn their misery into rebellion - and the British are ready to provide the spark. They send agent William Walker (Marlon Brando) on a devious three-part mission: trick the slaves into revolt, grab the sugar trade for England...then return the slaves to servitude. Gillo Pontecorvo, the acclaimed director of The Battle of Algiers, explores colonialism and insurrection in the searing epic Burn!. Both visually and narratively stunning, Burn! glows with the fires of Pontecorvo's unique filmmaking genius. Genius is also evident in Brando's complex, intelligent portrayal of a man who is both gentleman and scoundrel, revolutionary and colonialist. And Ennio Morricone's (The Untouchables, The Mission) haunting music memorably underscores the almost overwhelmingly powerful story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13968 in DVD
• Brand: BRANDO,MARLON
• Released on: 2005-11-08
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Portuguese
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 112 minutes

Customer Reviews

Truncated and shortened version?
This is a great movie, but if the previous reviewer is correct that it is being released in fullscreen (rather than its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio), then the DVD cannot be recommended. Worse, "Burn!" is the 112 min. truncated version of the 132 min. original version "Queimada", which was recently restored and shown commercially. There is no excuse for not having both versions. This would be a second reason to avoid this DVD.

Don't buy, wait for Criterion version
[star rating above is for DVD only; movie itself = *****] director Gillo Pontecorvo's 'The Battle Of Algiers' has already been released by The Criterion Collection in an exemplary 3-disc edition - as mentioned by another reviewer, 'Queimada' (Burn!) [...] was also previously released as a Criterion laserdisc.

Given that the transfer here is non-anamorphic 1.66:1, and that the film presented is English-language 112-minute version - not the 132-minute Italian-language director's cut which was screened selectively in the U.S. last year - let's all wait for BOTH the English and original Italian versions to be released as a Criterion edition (as they did with Visconti's Il Gattopardo - The Leopard, on 3 discs).

Please send Sony/Columbia/Tristar/MGM (whoever the ^@~& they are this week) a clear message by not purchasing this disc.

A wrenching history of 18th century Caribbean struggle
Burn! was one of the most discussed films amongst progressive film critics and revolutionary activists of the 1970s and was considered by many one of the most important anti-colonial films made. After "Battle of Algiers" (1966) left the world with a thirst for more of Pontecorvo's brilliance, Burn! carried his art to a higher level. In this panoramic film of rebellion in an 18th century Caribbean setting, the lives of the Black masses and the development of revolutionary anti-colonialism are portrayed directly and honestly. Brando plays with flair as the brilliant opportunist hired by the British military to "provoke" struggle against the Portuguese on the island, and it is clear that he took the role with political relish. Burn! remains one of the most beautiful and wrenching dramatizations of the struggle of an oppressed people in the so-called New World and its original impact is not diminished; anyone interested in fine film and issues of social justice should not miss this last work of Pontecorvo. See it and think about our world today.