Political thrillers don't come any more paranoid than The Manchurian Candidate, a "polished remake" of the 1962 classic that finds Denzel Washington as a Gulf War vet who unravels a government conspiracy. Although director Jonathan Demme had a hard act to follow, critics mostly approved of the film and the suits at Paramount made a healthy profit in the feverish run-up to the 2004 US presidential election.

Spinning The Story

"I think in an election year, a picture set against the backdrop of a presidential race brings a lot of extra fun to the party," says Demme in The Enemy Within. It's an unusually incisive behind-the-scenes featurette dealing with the tough proposition of updating the themes underlying the original film. It was the task allotted to screenwriter Daniel Pyne who's also on hand to explain how paranoia about corporate America replaces old fears regarding the spread of communism. In contrast, The Cast Of The Manchurian Candidate is a much more fluffy affair with Denzel, Meryl Streep, and co singing each other's praises and generally rivalling most politicians for the keen ability to talk a lot while saying nothing at all.

Five deleted and extended scenes - with optional director's commentary - enhance the key characters and the dynamics between them. For instance, Marco (Washington) and Raymond (Liev Schreiber) shoot the breeze while on patrol together in the Kuwaiti desert, before the traumatic events that change them. Meanwhile two outtakes find Streep in full-on campaign mode as Senator Eleanor Shaw, eliciting unexpected laughs.

Streep makes another appearance in Schreiber's audition tape, which perfectly captures the chemistry between them as mother and son. In fact this scene hints at an Oedipal subtext that exists in Richard Condon's original novel. Witness lots of touching and flirty eye contact - Freud would've had a field day with this!

Freedom Of Speech

A surprising addition to the package is the Political Pundits featurette, essentially a vox pops of six prominent Americans on the (then upcoming) presidential election and the general state of affairs in America. In an optional commentary, Demme reveals that he compiled the video to extract snippets for use in montages within the film. Among the speakers is veteran director Sidney Lumet who expresses concern that "fundamentalism is growing in the world" and that America itself has "a fundamentalist president".

Demme and screenwriter Daniel Pyne echo Lumet's concerns in a thought-provoking feature commentary, but these matters are raised in reference to the film. For example, Demme reveals that two weeks after he'd finished filming The Manchurian Candidate, the US invaded Iraq and forced him to review the material. In his own words, "Suddenly the whole military dimension of the movie - in the cutting room - took on an added sense of responsibility for us."

There are also observations on the pitfalls of remaking a classic movie, with Demme noting that, his intention was to "eliminate the great moments from the original and create fresh ones". It's a feeling of innovation that translates to this package as a whole because it asks the viewer to fully engage with the topics discussed in the film. In short, this is a DVD that stands up and demands to be counted.

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