K-19: The Widowmaker

What started off as Project 658. became the K19 Soviet (Hotel I Cass) Ballistic Missile Sub. K-19: The Widowmaker [Blu-ray] is a first rate DVD movie and blu-ray just makes the visual and sound quality that much better. There are scenes of gore during which the men are exposed to very high levels of radation after the reactor literally loses its cool. Radiation sickness is shown at its worst with a moderate amount of graphic detail left intact. For the men sent into the Reactor room death came to all of them in about three months time. 15 more men died in the next two years due to radiation exposure. Even after the K19 redesigns even in the west Soviet nuclear safety was more joke than reality. Decisions were made that would be unthinkable in US nuclear subs. Unfortunately there was a "Cold War" on and the Soviet Union had to find a way to beef up its nuclear deterant. The USSR had formidable land based ICBM nukes that were the backbone of the soviet threat but they were increasingly vulnerable. In 1961 the big slow moving prop driven Russian Туполев Ту-95 or TU-142 Russian Bear Bombers were effective but no real immediate threat to US interests if launched from a distance. So the former Soviet Union did what it always did when put between a rock and a hard place militarily. The soviets sacrficed safety and hurries a weapons system to "Readiness" in this case it was the K-19 first in a long line of Soviet ballistic missile Hotel Class subs. The sailors who manned her were expected to suffer any hardship for the sake of the motherland which this movie illustrates in unflinching detail.This K-19: The Widowmaker DVD movie on its face appears shocking, evil and foolish to 2014 western sensibilities which is why in my review I provided a little background so you can watch this movie in its historical context. The Soviet Union was a strong advisary indeed. The former Soviet Union had a formidable, credible nuclear deterent even in 1961. The Soviet Union shocked the United States with its launch of Yuri Gagarin into space because; it also signalled they had very advanced if basic rocket sciences. Advanced rockets with huge lift capacity meant they could hurl huge nuclear weapons at communism's enemies in the west. The United States is often a sleeping giant that once roused from its slumber is very effective at building the infrastructure needed to defend itself. The USA not only eliminated the nuclear missile gap we developed the nuclear triad of land based sub based and air based delivery systems. Now the Soviets were shocked and honestly frightened they had to answer what they saw as the new threat. K19 was the answer. A sub rushed into development, rushed into service with two presurized water nuclear reactors favored for their small size and huge power outputs. Neither of the K19's reactors was protected by even the most basic safety backups. So when disaster happened and the cooling system failed we had a disaster of epic scope that is the basis of this K-19: The Widowmaker [Blu-ray] DVD.Communism was the religion of the former Soviet state and any sacrifice made on the alter of communism was not only good but expected of all its adherents. This movie reveals so pretty shocking stuff about the lengths the former Soviet Union went to keep this sub and its secrets. What I found equally shocking is some of what happened after the story told by K-19: The Widowmaker. The K19 post accident was nicknamed after the first Japanese city bombed by the USA in its hope to end World War Two with less bloodshed. Shocking is the K19 instead of being immediately scraped was indeed retrofitted and put back into service. Equally shocking is the K19 a sub where so many men died was kept in service till it was finally decomissioned in the early 1990's. When I watch K-19: The Widowmaker I realize that despite all the faults and flaws in our United States government, I am blessed to have been born here. When I think of those poor men scacrified on the alter of communism in such a brutish way, I am shocked and saddened most profoundly. K-19: The Widowmaker Blue Ray is an awesome DVD movie because; with few exceptions it follows pretty true to history. K-19: The Widowmaker is entertaining while also informative. this is NOT a dry documentary it presents the saliors of the K19 as living people who were but for their form of government just like us. On the level of the pure inhumanity of what happened on the K19 my heart cried right along with the sailors who lost their friends. This was a very moving portrayal told with great sensitivity. This movie was not a box office success taking in far less in box office than it cost to make. Hopefully the DVD sales will help K-19: The Widowmaker break even because; this was a story that so totally had to be shared with the world so those sailors did not die in vain.

Enough has been said regarding the film's accuracy, summaries of the plot, acting and other diverse opinions so I will only review the actual quality of the transfer of the film to Blu Ray. I do have the Standard Def version which I have watched several times but this will not be a side by side comparison. I was going to give the Blu Ray 5 stars but changed my mind to 4 which you will see why a bit later.VIDEO... An excellent video transfer in all ways; they couldn't have improved it. The transfer is as clean as you could possibly ask for. My monitor is a Panasonic ZT 65" and that would make a difference as well but to my viewing the colors are as natural as you can find. Early in the film the color grading appears to be shot with warmth in mind. For the rest of the film all colors appear to be as natural as one might actually see. Colors do not pop as they do in many CGI films and other than a cool color grading in the reactor room, all other colors are very realistic. At no point did I see any video artifacts or aliasing, no ghosting or stair stepping. Mbps rate was one of the highest I have seen on a Blu Ray and seemed to average at around 41Mbps. At no point did I see it drop below the high 20's. As far as video transfers go, despite the letterboxing on top and bottom of your screen, I give this film 5 stars.AUDIO... Thank god we get a lossless audio codec in Dolby Digital HD 5.1. There is an excellent spread of audio across the front stage with frequent use of discreet channeling to the front left and right surrounds, especially when the submarine is actually under water. The rear surrounds (I run a 7.1 system) do receive a good amount of work to do as well but not a whole lot of discreet channeling to them when, in a sub, there should be audio all over the place and almost all of it being discreet. When compared to the majority of films, the audio for K-19 would rightly deserve 5 stars BUT when I compare this film's audio to the audio in two other great submarine movies, 'Das Boot' and 'U-571', both on Blu Ray, the audio of K-19 doesn't come close. The audio on both of those films is superlative. This might not be the fairest of comparisons but I lowered the 5 star audio of K-19 just because it didn't come close to that of the two mentioned films. Never the less, all audio levels are spot on so messing with your remote's volume control from time to time should not be necessary. Dialogue is crisp and transparent due to the lossless codec. Your LFE channel is put to good and frequent use and there is frequent panning across the audio stages.EXTRAS... There are no extras on the Blu Ray version of K-19 that were not on the original Standard Definition release. You get your typical commentary and shorts docs on the makeup, Making of, Breaching the Hull and the trailer.....all extras retain their original 4:3 aspect ratio.All my reviews focus solely upon the quality of the transfer of a film to Blu Ray and I do hope this review has been of some assistance and help to you in deciding your purchase.Thanks for reading.

Understood the 'hurry' for submarine to do the action... (training and real life action), indeed, this is true story... I have heard of this on TV news many years ago but I did not realise this flim is about the tv news... The crisis of nuclear inside the submarine... few died due lack of health of safety, clothing, etc.

This is a well crafted, true story and Exposition of the cold war submariners' duties. The unusual thing is that the Russians are depicted as the good guys. The editing, as signified by the pace of the film is superbly done. The claustrophobic aspects of the ship could have been boring but it was not the case. The two captains are shown as mutually distrusting at first but under duress begin to see the others point of view under the weight of an unreliable and dangerous vessel. The 'rights and wrongs' of politics are left aside and the crews lives are shown during this catastrophic failure. Both Alice and I enjoyed this film. It was shown to a Russian audience of Sea fairer and had mixed reviews. One reason was the lack of understanding in the script of the importance of 'heavy water' as a moderator in the nuclear reactor and why ordinary water would not work as well.

Happ

A cursed sub with a monumental disaster in the making, a subs reactor startsTo fail, the ships commander Ford sends men into their deaths to fix the problemHampered with wrong radiation kit, many are effected by radiation poisoning also theIght officer mutiny, hushed up The facts came out decades later

Excellent film and makes you think seriously about what could have been a disaster. Ford and Neeson were brilliant in their roles