Midnight Express needs to be looked at less like an expose on Turkey in general and the Turkish prison system (unquestionably not a great one) in particular, and more like one's mans view of it. The film attempts to put forward this idea by doing things like never utilizing subtitles when Turkish is spoken, but is not wholly successful at it. The film only ever shows a small segment of the Turkish population, but that segment is seen in an almost entirely negative light. As discussed in one of the behind the scenes featurettes, this was a critique made against the film upon its initial release and it is one that is still valid today. The story is just one man's story, but the view it presents of Turkey and the Turkish, even at the airport where Hayes was trying to do something very illegal, is a damaging one.
In an attempt to make the audience remain wholeheartedly on the side of Hayes, the illegality of Hayes' actions are downplayed. We may not agree with Turkey's system of justice – and I don't think anyone would approve of the prison system as it is depicted – but Hayes' main upset in the movie comes from the fact that extra years are added to his sentence due to the reinstatement of a smuggling charge… and Hayes was smuggling. He was being made an example of by the Turkish criminal justice system, and we do the same thing in the States on a regular basis (Bernie Madoff getting 150 years, for instance). That doesn't make the actions of the jailers – if true – right, but the film doesn't ever really redeem Hayes for his actions, they are just glossed over.
The Blu-ray release of Midnight Express is solid if unspectacular. Most of the film looks very good, delivering a dark, morose, feel to a dark, morose, film. There is a minimal amount of grain, and good detail in the visuals. More than one scene however has a lot more grain and a lot less detail, it is as though those scenes came from a different, less good, print of the film (or simply weren't corrected in the same manner as the rest of the film). The sound in the film is also not without problem; while it tends to be clear, the range of the volume is just too great at times, with quiet scenes requiring the sound turned up and loud ones requiring it turned down.
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