NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Raro Video Blu-ray (January 2023): Raro Video have transferred Paolo Heusch and Brunello Rondi's A Violent Life to Blu-ray. It is on a single-layered disc with a modest bitrate and has a contrast issue in the beginning - looking pale, faint and muddy - but it, generally, improves as the film runs. The source density appears to have been compromised, but the 1080P image is not unwatchable and the issues seem only to re-surface in the darker scenes later in the film. There isn't much grain texture and only occasional depth. I suspect it may have improved on a dual-layered, max'ed out bitrate, transfer. Imperfect but very watchable and certainly a full notch above SD if far from an ideal HD presentation.   

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Raro Video use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original Italian language. A Violent Life has aggressive sequences of crime and assault which often amounts to bullying. The score s by Piero Piccioni (Two Mules For Alex,  Illustrious Corpses, Fox With a Velvet Tail, Three Brothers, Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin, The 10th Victim, Adua and Her Friends, Hands Over the City, L'assassino,  The Moment of Truth) sounding quite effective. Raro Video offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Raro Video Blu-ray offers about 20-minutes worth of 3 video interviews with Italian film director Luciano Emmer (Pictura: An Adventure in Art), professor at Roma Tre University, Stefania Parigi - author of Cinema - Italy (Cinema Aesthetics) and with film critic Umberto Rondi. All in Italian with optional English subtitles. There is also a 16-page liner notes booklet with an essay and photos.

Paolo Heusch ands Brunello Rondi's (his directorial debut) Violent Life is based on a 1958 novel with the same name by Pier Paolo Pasolini described as "a reminder of his role as a bridge between the brutal naturalism of the neo-realists and a more fantastic style." The film focuses on the protagonists grim past and spiritual health redemption. There is also some politics between Mussolini and the Italian Communist Party. It's a curious and unflinching look the pervasive moral decay surrounding poverty but strikes positive chords of soul reclamation - at dire costs. The Raro Video Blu-ray offers this strong, lesser seen, effort with modest video but interesting extras including a liner notes booklet. A commentary would have vaulted the value, imo. Regardless, this is highly worth seeing for fans of Italian 60's cinema and Pier Paolo Pasolini writing contribution.

Gary Tooze