Rating: 
Summary: Incompetent Authoring
Review: This is one of those discs where the 16X9 enhancement isn't compatible with many players, producing a squeezed image if you don't have a 16X9 TV. This needs to be repressed. I don't know what the film is like because everything appeared as thin as toothpicks (and no, it was not because my player was set wrong--it is always set to Normal: LB).
I've gotten a ton of unhelpful votes for this review, so I'll add that I contacted the Disney/Miramax troubleshooting hotline printed on the disc, and after the technician walked me through all the troubleshooting steps, he CONCEDED that the DVD is INCOMPATIBLE with my player. With that fact presented, anyone who tries to bury this review as unhelpful simply because it is negative is (unfortunately, anonymously) demonstrating themselves tro be a true jerk determined to keep customers from making an informed decision. No company, particularly one as large as Disney, should be making DVDs that are incompatible with some players.
Rating: 
Summary: Delightful and smart movie
Review: This movie is a true revelation. You`ll face a fight against the death but not tearful, just braveful.
The amazing script is simply extraordinary. All the cast is superb, specially Marie Josee Croze, winner in Cannes 2003 like best actress.
Watch this film and consider it from now a new classic canadian cinema.
And remeber Tarkovski`s statement: The death doesn`t exist, just the fear to it.
Rating: 
Summary: We Are the Barbarians!
Review: This was a richly entertaining flick that doesn't really aspire to be much but a deathbed with dignity tale. The script is a gem, adroitly pointing out that once intelligence leaves society, it can take centuries to return. Cretinism and consumptionism have replaced intellectualism, and this pains the protagonist more than the tumors eating away at him from within. Why indeed did Pope Pius get to sit on a velvet chair while Primo Levi went to Auschwitz?Sad and poignant, yet filled with irrascible humor, well-acted and with good pacing - make time for this one when it hits your local art-house or DVD purveyor.
Rating:
Summary: Moving and Real.. Exquisite
Review: To the strange one-star reviewer listed below who claimed the movie was "squeezed into a smaller space" or whatever, I would say, "DUH! It's called LETTERBOX and it allows you to see the WHOLE of the movie that was shown in theatres, and not just a portion of the movie that has been cut down to fit into your old-fashioned TV. What part of that don't you understand? I can't imagine not wanting to see the whole of the film as the director intended it to be seen. I have watched the DVD on 2 TV's, one of which is 16 X 9 and the other of which is not, and the film was incredible either way. Enough about that.
The cast is brilliant. It was wonderful to see many of the same actors that were in Jesus of Montréal, also one of my all time favorites, to see their development and to experience their wonderful chemistry as an ensemble.
I think some folks gave away too much about the ending. (Not what happened to Rémy, but what was on the laptop computer). I would just say, see the movie; it's terrifically moving without ever being sappy. It touches on themes of love, friendship, being far away from those that we love, and of course death. These are themes that we all can relate to. Nonetheless, love and beauty shine through it all, even in some of the bleaker moments. Wow, how real and true. If this one doesn't move you, I don't know what would.
Rating:
Summary: Death should be so beautiful
Review: What a way to go. Surrounded by good friends and reconciled with your children, everyone should be so lucky. It is interesting to see a health care system in Canada that is just as corrupt and incompetent as its American counterpart. The relationships in this story certainly are a joy to witness and it is a pleasure to watch a movie that does not celebrate anti-intellectualism. There are no characters here who cling to stupidity as if it were a badge of courage. Still I must be sad for the dying man's atheism. Atheism isn't about bravely facing life without the unproveable God. Atheism is egotism : the refusal to be able to follow and the refusal to allow that man is not the most intelligent life form in the universe.
But it is a lovely story and the roundtable discussion by the actors as a bonus feature is equally watchable.
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