A journey takes you to a destination. It changes you along it. It reveals much to you. It often has more than a feeling of time passing. Here in is the mystery of Vincent Ward’s film. A mixture of dream and reality, legend and fable. Its about how we see our past and how that past would envision its future. In a way this is what dreams are made of. We aspire for betterment and often fantastic notions visit us. Ward has taken that a step further.
The black death is laying waste to million in England. Cumbria 1348. The village needs to be saved from this. A young boy dreams of death and destruction. Light is hope in the well of these visions. He must take them down the hole. Where will it take the villagers who travel down it? To what end shall be left of them and their village? To New Zealand they will rise up. To the century 2000 and technology undreamed or heard of. To horse less carts and shining lights. How will they return? Will they want to?
The disc is a rather tame affair from ARROW. The best extras on it? Well the making of documentary is up there. It selects the film maker and profiles his work. It has also been before on another Ward film disc. I feel that is what it is. The other is Roddick introduction that condenses a films themes into handy bites of data and extrapolations. Neither of which benefit much beyond the shore of the work…
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
- High Definition (Blu-ray) presentation
- Original mono audio (uncompressed LPCM)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand-new appreciation by film critic Nick Roddick, recorded exclusively for this release
- Kaleidoscope: Vincent Ward Film Maker, a 1989 documentary profile of the director made for New Zealand television
- Theatrical trailer
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kim Newman and an introduction by Vincent Ward
