Halle Berry's Oscar-winning performance in "Monster's Ball" is just one of a number of good reasons to get this thoughtful DVD release.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture The quality transfer preserves the desaturated veneer of the film, with solid blacks and good contrast throughout.

Sound An enveloping 5.1 mix consumes you with the haunting tones of the music. Highly effective, it's perfect for enhancing the sense of dread through subtle effects.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary One Director Marc Forster is joined by Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry for a thoughtful, but often light-hearted, commentary track. There's a lot of analysis of the acting in the movie, but most of their comments are informative and lack pretension.

Audio Commentary Two Marc Forster returns for track two, this time with cinematographer Roberto Schaefer. The emphasis here is more technical, with information on the shoot and techniques used.

Forster relates a story of finding the café location for the movie, and being pleased with the run down look of it. Unfortunately the owner was so pleased at his diner being used he spent $3k fixing it up.

Anatomy of a Scene Produced by the Sundance channel, this 24-minute documentary offers a film theory-style analysis of the movie. In the case of "Monster's Ball" it's an ideal approach, unravelling the emotional layers that have been invested into this powerful film.

Music for the Film This eight-minute featurette has interviews with the collaborators on an unusual music score, which was not designed to be noticed, but rather to offer an "ambient texture".

Unseen Footage This includes four short deleted scenes, including a powerful moment between Billy Bob Thornton and Sean Combs. Also included are some outtakes.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Region: 2
Chapters: 18
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: None
Captions: None
Menus: Animated, with music
Special Features Subtitles: None of the special features come with subtitles.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.