FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: The Human Stain [DVD] [2004]

The Human Stain [DVD] [2004]
enlarge	Director: Robert Benton Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Wentworth Miller Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm Category: DVD List Price: ~~£14.99~~ Buy New: £3.37 as of 22/11/2009 23:27 GMT details You Save: £11.62 (78%) New (12) Used (5) from £2.49 Seller: selectcheaper Rating: 13 reviews Sales Rank: 15189 Format: Anamorphic, PAL Language: English (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 101 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5017188812641 ASIN: B0001XLY9C Release Date: May 1, 2007 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Given the formidable challenge of adapting Philip Roth's acclaimed novel to the screen, it's a wonder that iThe Human Stain/i retains so much of what makes Roth's novel a masterpiece. As adapted by Nicholas Meyer, Robert Benton's film is inevitably a different animal altogether, and it's wide open to charges of miscasting and thematic diffusion. But at its core, this delicate drama succeeds in exposing the sins that stain all of humanity, forcing men like former welterweight boxer and esteemed professor Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) to forsake family and career to conceal his African American heritage. Light-skinned and passing as a Jewish professor of classics in a tony East Coast college, 71-year-old Silk sinks into scandal when an innocent remark is misinterpreted as a racist slur, and this--along with his affair with an illiterate 34-year-old janitor (Nicole Kidman), and friendship with a reclusive novelist (Gary Sinise)--forms the crux of Benton's multilayered inquiry into the oppressive aftershocks of guilt, shame, and mourning, and the effects of judgment (internal and external) on our ability to connect. Roth's novel was one thing, Benton's film is another. Despite differing degrees of success, both are worthy of praise. --iJeff Shannon/i

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 13 1 2 3 Next » Love in winter January 6, 2006 Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) 20 out of 22 found this review helpful Ooooo! THE HUMAN STAIN offered the potential for so many Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Hopkins Kidman), Best Supporting Actor (Miller, Harris, Smith).pHopkins is Coleman Silk, an aging and respected professor of literature at an idyllic New England liberal arts college, who, in the now of 1998, runs afoul of extremist political correctness. He's accused of racism after referring to two students, who've been absent from his class for the first 5 weeks of the term, as spooks, i.e. ghosts. Silk has never met them under any circumstances, but, as bad luck would have it, they're both Black. Called onto the carpet by the Board, and receiving no support from those who should know better, Coleman angrily resigns. When Silk breaks the news to his wife, she suffers a fatal heart attack. As Coleman puts it, his persecutors killed the wrong person.pOn the rebound, Silk meets Faunia Farely (Kidman), who holds down three blue collar jobs, is separated from her abusive husband, a psychotic Vietnam vet named Lester (Ed Harris), and who keeps the ashes of her two dead kids under the bed. Faunia describes her troubled situation as befitting trailer trash, and carries more baggage than a loaded 747. But Silk is besotted, and embarks on a torrid love affair with the 30-year younger woman. As Silk declares to his writer friend Nathan (Gary Sinise):pThis is not my first love, it's not my great love, but it's my last love. It's love - and great sex - in the winter of Coleman's life. Even Viagra gets a verbal plug.pTHE HUMAN STAIN is also a tale of racial passing, i.e. the process of shifting one's racial identity. You see, Coleman has a secret that he's kept buried for decades. (No, it's not that he's Welsh like Hopkins, but something else.) The film jumps back and forth between 1998 and the late 1940s, when a young Silk (Wentworth Miller) chooses to make the transition and abandon his natural family forever. It's only now, in a last orgasm of sharing with Faunia, that Coleman can unburden himself.pThe plot sounds like grist for a maudlin TV soap, but is raised to heights of excellence by extraordinary performances, especially Hopkins and Kidman. Hopkins wore green contact lenses to match Miller's eye color, and the two men synchronized speech and body movement characteristics to make the age transition as seamless as possible. Nicole spent time in shelters for abused women to acclimatize herself to aspects of the role. And a scene where she longs to touch the back of Coleman's neck is Oscar material by itself. pPerhaps the most poignant sequence involves the young Coleman and his mother (Anna Deavere Smith), when the latter suggests what her birthday present might be five years hence. It brings tears to her son's eyes, and perhaps some of those in the audience. Smith's role is not extensive, but certainly memorable.pHuman stain refers to the indelible mark, however miniscule in the universal scheme of things, that each of us makes on the world and which can't be undone. This film is about Coleman's stain and his coming to terms with it.pAt one point, Coleman asks Faunia, battered by life and circumstances, what she wants from their relationship. She responds: kindness. This is, for each of us perhaps, the greatest truth of all. Sorry to contradict the other ratings. November 3, 2004 Janice D 9 out of 10 found this review helpful A director has the perogative to create a film as he sees fit. Just because the pace isn't speedy and rushed and it is 'flat' compared to the other 'action' films on the market, it doesn't make it a bad film. p The film was entirely appropriate to the novel. The pace was slow for a reason. Do you think the events that took place happened at an accelerated rate? NO! The characters lived and suffered and nothing about suffering is fast.p Alot happens in this film but you have to look deeply to find it. If everything in life needs to be served on a silver platter nothing would be interesting. If you pay attention (like you should whilst doing anything) you will notice more. Little jokes etc. shouldn't have to be obvious. p Characters develop, a story about the past unfolds and friendships form. Admittedly the role played by Ed Harris was under-developed and Gary Sinise's role was miss-cast but there have been worse mistakes in other movies that triumphed. (eg. Orlando Bloom's monotone performance in Lord of the Rings.) I completely agree with Jason Hood that Ed Harris' character deserved more screen time, (needed more screen time.)p I don't wish to pick a fight with the other reviewers, but I believe that if you give this movie a chance, you may come away with something. I think that as a movie it is entertaining but if you are not in the mood for a deep, intense film save it for another day. You have to be in the mood for it. If you ever have the time to watch it twice you may see that it's not so bad after all. Peak performances January 7, 2007 Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) 7 out of 8 found this review helpful This film grabs the viewer from the opening scene. Through a winter's bleak landscape, a car's easy progress along the dark road is enhanced by the sedate pace of the background music. Before the credits have stopped running, the car is rolling into the roadside stream, the occupants clearly lost. An oncoming vehicle has driven them off the road deliberately, then continues on. Why has such a murder occurred? br / br /Coleman Sylk [Hopkins] a classics scholar, denies a student's charge of racism as "spectacularly false", yet resigns his college post in protest. He contacts Nathan Zuckerman [Sinise] to commission him to write the story of his life - the son of "the only Jewish saloon keeper in East Orange". Zuckerman, a writer suffering "block" is reluctant to undertake the task, but as he learns more about Sylk, he becomes fascinated by the man. The unfolding story is far more of "An American Tragedy" than Theodore Dreiser could have ever envisioned. br / br /Sylk, whose real story is far more convoluted than that of the "son of a Jewish saloon keeper", is an angry man. His outbursts aren't violent - that aspect of his life is clearly under tight control. But the events of his youth are reflected in his dealings with others in his later life. To explain this, Sylk's early life [Wentworth Miller] is portrayed as a succession of deceptions, from his struggle to follow his own desires against his father's wishes, to that father's own role in life. Coleman wanted to be boxer - he was good in the ring. But he follows a different path to become a classical scholar. The "first Jew to teach classical literature in America" - according to narrator Zuckerman. br / br /The source of Coleman's ire becomes clear when he tells Zuckerman about his first love. While in university, he meets a young woman and invites her home to dinner. The result is an act in a long-term tragedy. A tragedy that has yet to be played out both in the film and in real life. Convoluting Coleman's already bizarre existence is his unexpected encounter with Faunia Farley [Nicole Kidman]. In what is demonstrably her best role, Kidman is a woman beset by tragic circumstances. Their liaison, which should be completely out of character for both, proves stable and enduring. A cynical farm woman struggling for survival, she should have little to offer the classics scholar. But Coleman's own struggles provide a hidden bond. The two become lovers, mutually reinforcing and restoring a positive approach to their lives. br / br /It's easy for Hopkins to impart tension in a film role - he's done it often enough. But here, he displays a new version of that emotion. There is the visible manifestation of self-control. While he can release his rage when he's relating his story to Zuckerman, a whole new aspect appears when he's with Kidman. In turn, while she might simply be grateful for his attention, Kidman becomes enamoured of his qualities. She discovers his strengths and capacities, leading her to develop a sincere affection for this stranger. Together, the endure challenges and overcome them. All but the last one. br / br /There are many roles in this film deserving applause. Anna Deveare Smith's depiction of Coleman's mother, Ed Harris as Faunia's ex-husband and, of course, Jacinda Barrett as Coleman's university-days lover stand out well under Benton's direction. Hopkins and Kidman, however, rightly dominate this production. Kidman, in particular, exhibits a capacity hardly promised in her other roles. This film is reminiscent of two of Sean Connery's in which two co-stars, Lorraine Bracco and Catherine Zeta-Jones seem to suddenly blossom out of previous mediocrity. Was there an unforeseen magic between Hopkins and Kidman, or did Benton provide a catalyst needed to bring out the best these two could provide? However the formula worked, the product is something outstanding. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada] Captured me from beginning to end. March 3, 2008 David R. Bishop (Plymouth, UK) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful Antony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman are just brilliant in their roles, in this movie that should be better known and regarded. br / br /Historical racism is contrasted with what Hopkins' character refers to as 'The double dyed hyprocracy of political correctness'. Difficult decisions taken in youth cascade down the decades. I find it fascinating and thought-provoking. br / br /I never like to give the plot away, this one unfolds believably with tragic consequences, that kept me on the edge of my seat. It's well worth checking out. Highly recommended for Wentworth Miller Fans February 5, 2009 Sabiha J. Choudhury (United Kingdom) This is a story of a white man - Coleman Silk - born into a black family, and all the social issues he has to deal with. br / br /I bought it because I like Wentworth Miller, and I was not disappointed. Wentworth Miller plays a young Coleman Silk, and he portrays the character with such ease. Probably Wentworth Miller at one of his finest moments. Showing reviews 1-5 of 13 1 2 3 Next »

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