Catch-22 4K 1970 Ultra HD 2160p

An anti-war crusade against those who profit from war takes place in Italy during World War II. The main character desperately tries to obtain proof that he is insane so that he will no longer have to participate in combat missions.

User Review

Any work about war is propaganda. It's just that propaganda can be diametrically opposed. No, of course there are beautiful love stories where war serves as a backdrop, but we won't talk about that. Propaganda can be a story about a simple soldier who went to war, fought valiantly, died for his country (or, conversely, returned safe and sound to his mother) and became a national hero. Or, conversely, it can be a work whose meaning can be summed up in two words: ‘War is meaningless’.

Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is, in my opinion, one of the most masterful novels of the second type. The author takes the absurdity of army life, the stupidity and one-sidedness of the commanding officers, and the senseless cruelty to the tenth degree. In this situation, even the most delusional event suddenly begins to seem quite logical.
Captain Yossarian has one simple dream: to return home. Preferably alive. But how can he do that when everyone is trying to kill him? The Germans shoot at him when he is in the air. The colonel, who wants to curry favor with the general and therefore demands concentrated fire for the sake of beautiful aerial photography and constantly increases the number of combat sorties. The general, who hates his son-in-law and is therefore ready to shoot anyone who does not adhere to the letter of the regulations. And even Milou Minderbinder, the enterprising mess sergeant, who exchanged parachutes for cotton at a very favorable rate... In such an environment, all of Yossarian's antics, including appearing naked at the award ceremony, seem quite normal.

While reading, I was struck by how difficult the book would be to adapt for the screen. Truth, delusion, and fiction are too closely intertwined, and time constantly jumps back and forth, so it is unclear in what order the events take place. I was all the more surprised when I realized that the film repeats the book exactly, almost word for word. Perhaps that is why it is not very easy for an unprepared viewer to watch. I couldn't tear myself away from the very first frames. Silence, the smooth surface of the sea, a soft orange dawn... and slowly, heavily, rumbling and snorting, the B-25 starts its engines.

The main characters in this film are not airplanes. It is another machine, just as heavy, slow, and solid, launched by who knows whom and when, but sweeping away everything in its path — from the beautiful girl Lucana to the young gunner Snowden, about whom we learn nothing except one thing: he died.

Catch-22 is a very accurate film based on a very clever, albeit slightly crazy book, the essence of which is simple: war is meaningless. Peaceful skies to you all. Fly US Air Force planes!

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (83.9 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 1.0
#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by director Mike Nichols and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh)
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by film critic Drew McWeeny)

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (Parisian), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Iberian), Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish (Castilian), Swedish, Turkish.