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Lt. Thomas W. Hart (Colin Farrell) is the son of United States senator; he's been conveniently assigned away from combat, to serve as an aide at an Army Field Headquarters. Hart makes the mistake of volunteering to drive a combat officer back to his unit and he's captured. After days of torturous interrogation, Hart is sent to a prisoner of war camp run by a battle weary German officer, Col. Werner Visser (Marcel Iures). Visser is a bit of an enigma. Educated at Yale, his command of the English language and his appreciation for American culture are unusual. Yet, he oversees his camp with brutal discipline, perhaps due to wounds suffered physically (he walks with a limp and is no longer fit for combat) and emotionally (his son was killed on the Eastern Front). He hopes to sit out the remainder of the war - a war we perceive he believes has been lost - by simply keeping his charges under control. The senior officer among the prisoners is Col. William A. McNamara (Bruce Willis), fourth generation West Point and intensely frustrated at having been cut off from the fighting. McNamara has earned the loyalty of his fellow prisoners and the respect of the camp's commandant.

When the two black flight officers are assigned to the same barrack as Hart, so intense is Bedford's hatred that he frames Archer for possession of a weapon, a tent spike. Archer is summarily executed by the Nazis, a clear violation of the Geneva Convention. "This isn't Geneva," explains Visser when McNamara objects. It comes as no surprise that when Bedford is found dead, Scott is standing over his body. Hart, who doesn't suffer from the pathological prejudice that plagues too many of the soldiers in this camp, has been protective of the two black officers. He insists that Scott be court-martialed rather than allow the Nazis to drag him away to be shot. McNamara is oddly unenthusiastic about the idea, but with Visser's amused support, Scott will have his day in court. McNamara assigns Hart to defend; it seems that Hart had been at Yale Law School when he was drafted.

McNamara is president of the court and his actions would seem to contradict his image as a strong and compassionate leader of men. Something else is going on, something that Hart will soon discover. And as he does, he will learn the importance of loyalty, valor, and patriotism. Hart's War could have been a preachy indictment of bigotry and bias. Instead, as it takes on that issue, it twists the viewer's involvement and loyalties, forcing us to consider the hard decisions that have to be made as the stakes are raised.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. This transfer is quite good, but you might be tempted to disagree. Before you decide, consider that director Gregory Hoblit and cinematographer Alar Kivilo have manipulated the look of the film to affect the viewers' perceptions. The palette has been shifted toward blue to create the impression of cold, and contrast is exaggerated to emphasize the starkness of the POW camp. Consequently, shadow detail is a tad less revealing than it could be. Small object detail and textures are reasonable, even though some annoying halos and occasional ringing may be seen. Skin tones are quite natural, indicating color accuracy. The infrequent splash of bright color - for example, an indoor scene that includes a bright red Nazi flag - is vivid and noise free. Blocking and mosquito noise are not noticeable.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is excellent. The surrounds are used aggressively, particularly during action sequences. Deep, satisfying bass flapped my pants legs when explosions lit up the screen; I hope you have a great subwoofer. Rachel Portman's poignant score, uncharacteristically lacking an expected militaristic flavor for such a film, is presented with a pleasing fidelity across a broad soundstage. Sound effects are undistorted and are free of audio compression; even so, gunshots are not as visceral as I've heard on some other DVDs. The dialog is clean and clear throughout; Colin Farrell's voice-over is recorded quite dryly and has a great in-the- room presence.

Alternative Dolby Surround tracks are provided in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, as are optional subtitles. English Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Despite the film's lack of box office, MGM has created a fairly extensive DVD with lots of extras. Two feature-length, screen-specific commentaries are included, the first by director Gregory Hoblit, screenwriter Billy Ray, and Bruce Willis. Based on the timbre of the voices, differences in background noises, and the interactions, I'd judge that Hoblit and Ray were watching the film together in the same room, but that Willis's very brief comments were recorded elsewhere (this despite the editor's attempt to splice a Willis response, "Yes, absolutely," into the conversation no less than twice). There are several anecdotes from the shoot and comments concerning the practical special effects and harsh location working conditions, but the bulk of the exchange describes the evolution of the storyline and the editing process that refined the film into its final form. Artistic decisions are discussed, and credit is paid to technical advisors who lived through the prisoner of war experience.

The second commentary is by producer David Foster. We learn about the novel by John Katzenbach from which the film is based and the historical context of the film. Foster describes much of the background that inspired many of the events depicted here. He spends more time describing the shoot than did Hoblit. You'll find more pauses in his commentary, and he does tend to digress into admiration for the players and filmmakers, but I found the additional insights well worth having to plod though some less inspired comments.

There are ten deleted scenes presented in very respectable anamorphic video. They may be played individually or as a contiguous sequence, and with or without director's commentary. Several of these scenes are quite good, and "The Green Men Story" is particularly effective in demonstrating the racial intolerance that contaminated the military of that era. Hoblit explains that most of these scenes were removed for pace and length, but I would have enjoyed their restoration in the feature for this DVD release.

The Photo Gallery offers a tad over four dozen stills. They're divided into four distinct sections that are self-explanatory, "Behind The Scenes," "The Film," "The Set," and "The Poster Shoot." The film's theatrical trailer is shown in non- anamorphic widescreen. Two MGM Domestic Television Distribution productions are previewed for the fall, the next season of Stargate SG-1 and a new show entitled Jeremiah; as you might expect, these TV trailers are in full screen. A non-anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer for Windtalkers is also included.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts