Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer Interviews-Cast & Crew-Australian Interviews-Cast & Crew-International
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	85:38 (Case: 89)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (60:23)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Oliver Hirschbiegel
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Liam Neeson James Nesbitt Anamaria Marinca
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	Leo Abrahams David Holmes

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     German director Oliver Hirschbiegel managed to become one of the world’s most widely watched directors thanks to the somewhat infamous Internet meme featuring a rather cranky Adolf Hitler reacting to all manner of absurdities, the footage of which was culled from his masterpiece Der Untergang (aka Downfall). Following the critical and commercial success of Der Untergang Hirschbiegel did what any self respecting director would do: follow the big bucks to Hollywood and struggle with the studio system. This Hollywood foray only lasted one ill-fated sizeable-budget disaster, The Invasion, before Hirschbiegel retreated to Europe where he has seemingly also returned to more stripped-down, intimate filmmaking in Five Minutes of Heaven.

     The film opens by roughly retelling the factual story of how, at the height of tensions in Northern Ireland in 1975, a 17 year old Ulster Volunteer Force member by the name of Alistair Little (Mark Davison) murdered a young Catholic, James Griffin, as a warning to Catholics. Thirty-three years later we pick up with the fictional story of Little (now portrayed by Liam Neeson), now an advocate for peace who has spent 12 years in prison for his crime, as he prepares to meet with the younger brother of the man he murdered, Joe Little (James Nesbitt, for a television special on reconciliation. Little do the producers know that Joe doesn't have reconciliation in mind. His desire is revenge for all the years of mental anguish he has endured following his brother’s demise.

     Five Minutes of Heaven is an intimate character study of two men at opposite ends of personal conflict, one a remorseful man whose life has been racked with shame and guilt, the other a vengeful man constantly tormented by the effects of an event he had no control over. Each role would make for a veritable tour de force for any actor and the two in those roles, arguably some of finest Irish actors of their respective generations, step up to the plate admirably. The film is tightly written and expertly directed.

     Five Minutes of Heaven was filmed for television in the UK and distributed in limited release theatrically throughout the rest of the world. It won awards for writing and direction at the 2009 Sundance film festival and locally won audience awards at both the Sydney and Canberra International Film Festivals. Though far from flawless, Five Minutes of Heaven makes for powerful viewing.

Video

     The film is presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The video features a deliberate grimy and grainy look. The grain present is coarse and colours are deliberately muted and a little muddied. There is a reasonable level of shadow detail in the image given the look of the film, although the coarse grain is particularly noticeable in dark scenes and consequently colour gradients are not particularly smooth in dark scenes. A handful of fine white flecks of dust are noticeable in the transfer, although it is devoid of sizeable film artefacts. There is no sign of compression related artefacts in the video.

     English subtitles are present for the feature. Based on the portion sampled, they appear to be reasonably accurate and well timed.

     This is a dual layer disc with a layer transition between scenes at 60:23.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film features a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track. The audio is somewhat muddy and bass heavy. The dialogue is reasonably clear, although some of the Irish accents are heavy, and the audio appears to be well synchronised to the video.

     The film features a subtle, fitting score from Leo Abrahams and David Holmes.

     A small degree of prologic activity is noticeable in the surround speakers, although it is not a patch on the 5.1 mix most viewers would expect from a modern film. There is no particularly noticeable subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Interviews with Oliver Hirschbiegel and James Nesbitt (4:32)

     Margaret Pomeranz interviews Oliver Hirschbiegel and James Nesbitt, individually, when the pair were in Australia touring the film at local festivals. Worth a look, but ultimately fairly light.

Cast and Crew Interviews (23:13)

     Individual interviews with various cast and crew, including the director and two leads. There's some good material here, although it is a bit repetitive and struggles to maintain momentum for the sizeable duration of the running time.

Trailer (1:44)

     The film's International theatrical trailer. Not a bad one at that.

     The Region 1 release of the film includes a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix, rather than the disappointing Dolby Digital 2.0 on the Region 2 and Region 4 editions. The Region 1 edition also includes a behind-the-scenes/making of type featurette that incorporates many of the interview segments from the Region 2 and 4 editions.

     The Region 2 edition features the same extras as the Region 4, minus the Australian interviews.

     The Region 1 edition will be the version of choice for many viewers as it features a 5.1 sound mix.

    An excellent, intimate character study of two men at opposite ends of anger and grief. Five Minutes of Heaven is a magnificent platform for two of Ireland's top talents, Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt, to showboat their craft.

     The video looks pretty much as intended, not great but deliberately so. The audio is a disappointment. The extras are fair.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall