Mike De Leon's 1982 classic
Batch '81 has just been released on DVD by VIVA VIDEO as part of their
Award Winning Homegrown Movies Collection. I think this is one film that has been much-awaited by Filipino DVD enthusiasts, and it's great to finally have it available on DVD, at a bargain price of
Php 199. But how good a buy is the DVD?
Packaging:Batch '81 is in a standard keep case without an insert. Its cover art matches the rest of the titles in this new collection by VIVA - the front cover has the "VIVA Award Winning Home Movie" banner at the top, a square with the film's poster in the center, and the film's award(s) listed underneath it. The back cover has three images from the film at the top, a short summary in the center, and a copyright warning/VIVA address and logo at the bottom.
It actually leaves much to be desired. There isn't even a list of credits anywhere on the jacket other than the four actors listed on the front cover. No running time information. No audio mix information nor disc format/region code information, either.
Making matters worse is that the film's summary on the back of the DVD was copied word-for-word from the old VCD release of the film. Not only are there a few grammatical errors, but they even erroneously identify the fraternity in the film as "Alpha
Phi Omega," while the fictional fraternity is actually called "Alpha
Kappa Omega" in the movie.
Picture Quality:The film is presented full screen with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. I am not aware of the original aspect ratio of the film, but did not notice any scenes that looked improperly framed or with any apparent panning-and-scanning. The DVD looks like it was mastered from the same print they used to make the old VCD copies. Same amount of dust/debris on the picture, but without the pixelation/banding seen on VCD. The colors are slightly faded but very good for a local film from this era - better than other releases from this period, without any color bleed. However, darker scenes are a bit too dark on my monitor - they were a bit brighter on the VCD release.
A few sample screen captures:
Audio:The audio registers as Dolby Digital 2.0 on my player, but is rather tinny and practically without base. Dialogue is still crystal clear, and I suppose that's what's important in films like this, so I'd say the audio is adequate.
Menus/Extras:In a nutshell: There are absolutely no extras on this DVD. No trailer, no commentary, no featurettes... not even English nor Tagalog subtitles. In fact, there are only two menu screens - the "Main Menu" screen (which plays the film's theme when you access it):
And the single-page "Scene Access" screen with only six scenes featured:
This menu format is identical with all the other "VIVA Award Winning Homegrown Movie" titles.
Overall:It's a bit sad that a classic film like this was given such a barebones release by VIVA. It certainly deserved a bit more - it would've been nice to see a retrospective documentary like VIVA did for the
Bagets DVD set. Actually, I'd have settled for a trailer and maybe getting the name of the fraternity correct on the back cover of the jacket. For a movie like this, I wouldn't have minded paying a premium price for a release with more extras.
But all things said and done, it's still
Batch '81 on DVD, and I'll take it ANY WAY they give it to me!
This is a must-have for any Pinoy DVD collector.
For a list of some of the other titles in Viva's Award Winning Homegrown Movie collection,
click here.
