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

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (March 2021): Indicator have transferred Ken Loach's Carla's Song to Blu-ray. The film had previously been released on Blu-ray by Twilight Time in the US HERE. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and looks pleasing in 1080P. It can show some waxy softness but this is not digitization but a consistent consequences of the production as put to digital. I expect it compares very favorably with the Twilight Time HD presentation. It is very clean, has true colors, decent contrast and some depth and texture in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio. This looked quite fetching on my system with beautiful countryside in Strathclyde, Scotland, and the greens of the Nicaraguan jungle. 

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English, and some Spanish, languages. There are effects from the bus-driving and activity to the second half war-zone bullets and bombs. The score is by George Fenton (Ladybird, Ladybird, The Crucible, The Fisher King, Planet Earth, Life) and supports the film well via the uncompressed audio transfer. Indicator offer optional English subtitles, for the feature (SDH) and commentary, on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Indicator Blu-ray offers a the same commentary as found on the Twilight Time Blu-ray with director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty from 2005. Perhaps because of the accents - Indicator include the option of subtitles for the commentary. We learn a lot about the production evolution, remembered anecdotes, some pauses to enjoy certain scenes, talk of shooting in Scotland and Nicaragua but generally about being truthful to the story's themes, subtle changes, the title choice etc. Also duplicated are the 10-deleted scenes, cut by Loach to tighten the film. They run almost a dozen minutes. Indicator stack the supplements with six new (2021) interviews; producer Sally Hibbin recalls the challenges of filming in Nicaragua, editor Jonathan Morris discusses working on an ambitious, international scale, composer George Fenton details his approach to scoring the film, art director Fergus Clegg on recreating the late-eighties setting of Carla’s Song, sound recordist Ray Beckett discusses the technical aspects of Loach’s documentary style of filmmaking and script supervisor Susanna Lenton relates the complexities of shooting the film in sequence. These run about 70-minutes in total. There is also an original theatrical trailer and image gallery of publicity and promotional material plus the package has a limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Michael Pattison, Paul Laverty on Carla’s Song, an account of screening the film in Nicaragua, Ken Loach on recutting the film, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits.    

I echo some of the critical comments of Ken Loach's Carla's Song enjoying the first half - and it's occasional humor and budding romance - more than the politically-charged second half with its resemblances to typically obvious liberal Hollywood. Loach is an impressive filmmaker and I think he realizes the story to its highest potential. Oyanka Cabezas, Carlyle and Scott Glenn are strong and carry the film in its more plodding and scattered moments. The commentary helped and its ambition is, certainly, a positive attribute. The high-end a/v and extras-stacked, limited edition (3,000 copies), Indicator Blu-ray make this package very enticing for Loach fans.

Gary Tooze