This is a really great movie. (I always feel kind of “duh” saying this on Academy Awards winners.) I love the way it’s built; I had as much fun watching it for a second time as the first. The first time, you’re kind of flabbergasted and enthralled by the movie, while the second time you take the time to understand it more. The main three actors are all really great and I liked the comparison between the destructive intense passionate love story of Almasy and Katharine and the sweet innocent “first love” of Hana and Kip. I won’t try to say more about it since a lot has already been said about the movie!

The extras on this DVD are a mixed bunch – the first ones feel very static, long conversations with various filmmakers on different relatively dry subjects. Some shots of the movie and also a “Play all” options would have been nice. (I actually found myself dozing off between two subjects.) Some others though are very nice little features – I really liked the piece about the still photographer as I had no idea such a job existed (and it also contained really beautiful pictures). The deleted scenes were fascinating. I usually don’t like them because they are often on the boring side (they were after all, cut) but these were beautiful, I loved the ostrich story with a passion. Also the explanations of these scenes were well-worded and made you understand what the scenes were about and why they had to be cut.

So, I think this version of the DVD is a good buy. The extras made me want to read the book (I had no idea it was inspired by a book).