Olive Films is handling another foreign-language film (as they did with Nicolo Donato's Brotherhood, Veiko Őunpuu's Estonian film The Temptation of St. Tony, Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow, Fredrik Edfeldt's excellent The Girl and Fassbinder's I Only Want You To Love Me). So, can a typically confused modern woman fall in love with a high-functioning individual with Down syndrome? We have Antonio Naharro, Álvaro Pastor's educational expose - daring to challenge with a rare film about the developmentally disabled.... and love.

The Olive DVD is dual-layered, progressive and anamorphic in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It produces a consistent image filled with grain and an intentionally crusty verité appearance. The SD format does an adequate job of picking up the textures - representing the film in a close approximation of the originally produced and intended look. It is not a 'weak' transfer but one accurate to the source. The film would be far less effective with pristine, plastic and glossy visuals.

The Spanish language audio is in standard Dolby with optional English subtitles included. The Olive disc is region 1 encoded in the NTSC standard.

Certainly an eye-opening film experience.... and one fairly easy to embrace by exploring areas that we rarely dare venture. It challenges perceptions without a preachy, cloying perception of acknowledgement. We accept that this is unnecessary - these are adults who follow the trappings of intimacy - just as we all have. Recommended!  

Gary W. Tooze