DVD
REVIEW: THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
03/01/08
“Things We Lost in the
Fire” is a the misleading title of a movie not about a fire
but about losses. As a matter of fact the actual fire is not
mentioned until the end. The way the fire was handled was
powerful and meaningful. After her husband dies, Audrey
(Halle Berry) is faced with coping with the loss of her
murdered husband and raising her two children. She continues
a like dislike friendship with her husband’s best friend,
Jerry (Benecio Del Toro), who is a recovering drug addict.
This is only the background story to Audrey’s bereavement
process and Jerry’s drug recovery. The movie is a heart
touching drama, where two people are joined by circumstances
and have to understand and accept the reality of life to
move on.
Allan Loeb, writer, denotes sentiment and closure with two
lines that are incredibly powerful. When Audrey is
describing her husband’s calm reaction after the fire
knowing they had lost things of sentimental value. He tells
her “We still have each other” yet when Audrey starts to
read the list of all the things they had lost she realizes
she had also lost her husband and after angrily asking
herself “why?” she realizes she had just had to accept it
and his friend was meant to be there to help her through.
The second line is when Audrey offers to pay for Jerry’s
recovery and tells him “accept the good”. That is a way of
letting the audience know that she has healed and is ready
to pay back kindness.
Another interesting detail of this film is in
cinematography. To enhance the intimacy of the character,
director Susanne Bier uses close ups concentrating in the
eyes and monologues which illustrates the emotion of the
character. This was properly used and much needed in this
kind of film.
Needless to say Halle Barry and Benicio Del Toro’s
performance was excellent. Halle is as natural and real as
ever with the talent and ability to transmit emotion and
feelings. No one could have done a better job than her in
this role. While Benicio’s deep brown eyes and rough facial
expressions might give the impression that he is going to be
the bad guy, on the contrary he was able to interpret the
relaxed and sometimes anxious body language of a struggling
drug addict. Also the two children, had a sensible and to
their supposed passing father.
This film is being released in DVD on March 4, 2008. It is
powerful and meaningful adult entertainment. It contains 7
deleted scenes and a discussion about the making of the
film.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen Enhanced for 16x9 TVS
AUDIO:
English,
Spanish and French
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary: A
Discussion About Things We Lost In The Fire: A
good documentary where the cast director, producers and
writers talk about the film production (20:25)
Deleted Scenes: A total of seven deleted
scenes that don't add too mush to the story. It was a good
idea to leave this scenes out (9:26)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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