In America (DVD)

WOW! There isn't another word that I can think of to best describe my reaction to watching In America.

I did not have the pleasure of seeing this film in the theaters last year, but now that I have had the chance I am just about ready to go back and revise my top ten list of 2003 as this is definitely a contender.

The Academy praised Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou for their performances along with Jim Sheridan for his touching and emotional screenplay, but I am here to say right now that the entire cast of this film deserved recognition.

In America is a story of a poor Irish family looking to start a new life in America after the untimely death of one of their children. The death of their young boy hit the entire family hard and as the story is told through the eyes of the two young daughters you are taken through a whirlwind of emotions that will leave you with a lump in your throat as you watch the credits roll.

This DVD also knows just what is important in the movie and what areas to focus on as it doesn't offer a wealth of special features but what is there is worth the watch.

First off you have a short "making-of" featurette, which quickly guides you through interviews with the cast and crew and it ultimately turns into the low-light of the disc as the next two features are certainly worth every cent.

Starting off their is a feature-length commentary with director/producer/writer Jim Sheridan, and with the story based on his life, as he takes you through each scene you begin to appreciate the film on a whole new level. He goes in depth as to where each scene came from his past and even manages to weave some humor in with his comedy making it one of the best commentaries I have ever heard on a DVD.

As the final feature you have nine deleted scenes, plus an alternate ending. These scenes I recommend you watch after listening to the commentary track as some of them you will recognize from Sheridan's commentary. I also recommend you watch them with his commentary playing in the background. I am not normally a big proponent of deleted scenes, since most of the time they are boring and hold no interest, but with this one there always seems to be more under the surface than originally meets the eye and Sheridan's commentary brings that out.

I cannot stress enough how good this movie is, and how good this DVD is, and if you don't believe me just rent it and you will quickly be rushing off to buy a copy for yourself.