Goodbye Uncle Tom - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (Limited Edition)

Depiction does not equal endorsement. We’ve heard this statement ad nauseum when discussing so-called “difficult” films. Goodbye Uncle Tom not only lives by that statement, it pushes it to the absolute brink. The disgusting acts depicted in the film caused the performers to be under constant emotional and physical duress, forced to relive some of the darkest tragedies of slavery in America. But hey, we often see this kind of transgressive filmmaking from Italian filmmakers in the 1970s, though you’d be hard-pressed to find something as breathlessly inexcusable as this work. 

Goodbye Uncle Tom premiered in the US in 1972 in a cut English version that was immediately met with disgust by critics and audiences alike. Roger Ebert famously called the film “…the most disgusting, contemptuous insult to decency ever to masquerade as a documentary." Ebert wasn’t necessarily wrong here. The film itself was made to incite the kind of anger and furor that it received upon release. The filmmakers behind it had already been well-versed in smashing the wall between fiction and reality to subject their audiences to the horrors of American colonialism. That said, it should come as no surprise that the most incendiary, realistic indictment of slavery in American history comes from a duo of filmmakers raised under an oppressive Italian government. Is that an excuse for what they depict? Absolutely not.

Much like similar Mondo works, Goodbye Uncle Tom seats the viewer in moral degradation that’s as close to reality as a camera can allow. Filmmakers Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi had already shocked audiences with their previous Mondo films and the criticism lodged at them for being racist feels like the vile main issue in Goodbye Uncle Tom. To them, they’re the puppet masters who know how to create an environment where this kind of scrupulous moral degradation can be studied and exposed. But that doesn’t excuse how they essentially forced Haitian natives to be treated like their ancestors to gain that reality. In this film, disgust always comes at the expense of whoever is focused in the frame. Inexcusable kind of filmmaking, though one that is so thorough in its indictment of colonialism that it cannot be ignored.

Jacopetti and Prosperi ditch a narrative throughline, choosing to treat the audience as hopeless onlookers to what they’re filming. It’s very similar to Cannibal Holocaust in that the idea is to get as close to reality as possible, but narrative filmmaking has taught us that limits need to be put in place to avoid exploitation. This is exploitation writ large and given every ounce of blood, sweat and tears from its players, intercutting archival footage of the Black Power movement in America and other real-life racist atrocities just to give even more disturbing meaning to its recreations. It’s a relationship between fact and fiction that sets the film apart from the others, as the atrocities we’re seeing recreated in the past are informing the present.

I won’t speak to the specific scenes in Goodbye Uncle Tom because they come as close to using the camera as a weapon as possible. We’re forced to stare into the abyss of human morality with only the eyes of the abused looking back at us. For a completely inexcusable work in practice and production, you’d be hard-pressed to find something this reviling and essential. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays
oodbye Uncle Tom (AKA Addio Zio Tom) arrives in eye-searing 4K Ultra HD with a four-disc set housed in a very thick clear Scanavo case with reversible art and a limited-edition embossed slipcover. There’s also an attached booklet with track listings for the CD and a new essay by Dan Madigan. Both 4K discs are UHD100s and the standard Blu-ray housing all the extras is a BD50. All three of those discs boot up to standard menu screens, while the included CD offers all 23 tracks included in the original soundtrack.

Look away...if you can, as Goodbye Uncle Tom has now made the jump from DVD to 4K Ultra HD courtesy of the cult film label Blue Underground. Both English and Italian cuts are sourced from 4K 16-bit scans from their original camera negatives, presented in 2160p with Dolby Vision HDR and in their original 2.40 aspect ratios. Needless to say, this is the best this particular film has ever looked at home, immediately leaving the previous Blue Underground DVD transfer in the dust with gorgeous primaries, enhanced contrast and deep, inky black levels to really expose every bit of uncomfortable human degradation on display here. Colors are tuned in just right, with those sweeping natural vistas nearly leaping off the screen. As for grain, it’s naturally thick here, retained from how the movie was supposed to look. Whatever source damage was present is cleaned up by Blue Underground beautifully, and the archival footage used throughout the film is all handled well by the HEVC encode despite not having the dynamic range that the other material has. 

This release offers 1.0 DTS-HD MA tracks for both Italian and English cuts of the film. Despite some clear sibilance at the source level that can appear sparingly, especially with how “Oh My Love” is mixed in, these are well-balanced presentations that bring the most out of the sources used. Dialogue is clean and mixed with the music well, and even the rougher audio during the archival footage sequences comes through just fine thanks to the work here.

As for supplements, Blue Underground has done more than their due diligence on packing this edition with historical insights and objective studies of Mondo filmmaking as a whole. Severin Films’ own David Gregory provides his terrific documentary on the filmmakers in focus, going over their history and seating it within the film movements and political turmoil of that era. And in the interview with Professor Matthew J. Smith, the academic dissects the abusive production practices used on the film. Needless to say, you have hours upon hours of commentary from experts and cast and crew to go through. As difficult as the main feature is to watch, the supplements want to explore and dissect why that is. 

English Version 4K Disc

• Trailer (HD)

Italian Version 4K Disc

• Trailer (HD)

Blu-ray Disc Extras

• THE IMPORTANCE OF SHOCKING: GUALTIERO JACOPETTI – A feature-length documentary by director Andrea Bettinetti (HD 93:59)
• THE GODFATHERS OF MONDO – A feature-length documentary by director David Gregory (HD 89:16)
• Goodbye Cruel Mondo - Interviews with writers/directors Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi, and composer Riz Ortolani (HD 20:01)
• Behind-the-Scenes 8mm Footage with audio Commentary by production manager Giampaolo Lomi (HD 49:51)
• Mondo Mercenaries - Interview with author & academic Mark Goodall (HD 27:15)
• Abjection Under Authoritarianism - Interview with Professor Matthew J. Smith (HD 19:47)
• Extensive still galleries, including Giampaolo Lomi’s behind-the-scenes photos

Soundtrack CD

The horrors of American colonialism and slavery gain destructive power in Goodbye Uncle Tom, a Mondo film that shocked American audiences in 1972 and continues to be one of the most reviling films ever made. Blue Underground upgrades the film from DVD to stunning 4K Ultra HD with a release that pulls out all the stops. In addition to the gorgeous 4K presentations of both cuts, the collection of special features gives you hours upon hours of essential film history that gives even deeper life to this disturbing work. This release comes Highly Recommended, even though the film cannot be a harder watch than it already is. 

Order Your Copy of Goodbye Uncle Tom on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray