Touching on the very controversial subjuect of abortion, Cider does anything but dwell on this aspect. Rather, the theme of abortion is very much secondary to the story.

Cider establishes itself in a 1940’s Orphanage and follows the life of Homer Wells (Tobey Macguire) who has lived there all his life under the guidence of Dr Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine garnering the films 2^nd academy award). Along the way, Dr Larch has been teaching him to be a sergeon with the intent of Homer one day replacing him.

Helping out Dr Larch, and for many years past, are Nurses Angela (Kathy Bates), and Edna (Jane Alexander). Together, these three form the parental units of St. Cloud’s Orphanage.

As often as the orphanage takes in unwanted babies, they also do their fair share of getting rid of unwanted babies by performing illegal abortions, for Dr Larch feels that it is a necessary procedure for him to perform due to the many dangerous backyard abortions occurring.

One such couple come to St Clouds to have an abortion Candy (Charlize Theoron) and Wally (Paul Rudd), and end up taking Homer with them back to their home town! Homer becomes an Apple picker for Wally’s mother, Olive (Kate Nelligan) , and also watches over Candy while he’s fighting in the war.

Pretty soon Homer and Candy are caught up in a passionate affair. Not only that, but the Cider House is involved in another shocking event involving the crew working the apple orchard.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
Originating once again from the Miramax clan (like Halloween : H20 and Life is Beautiful), and distributed in OZ by Roadshow, Cider is presented in it’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is Anamorphic Widescreen to boot!

If there is ever a case that Digital Noise Reduction should be BANNED as an option of DVD players THIS film is the reason! After getting my player upgraded with the latest firmware to fix audio sync, it came back with the D.N.R feature Turned ON. Not realising this was so I Went ahead and reviewed Cider, and well let’s just say it was not in its favour. Thank God I popped on Shawshank Redemption and Noticed the same sort of problems and then Instantly realised what was up, as Shank’s is a superb transfer!!!! Sooo..here’s my second attempt at reviewing the VIDEO TRANSFER of Cider.

This Anamorphic Widescreen DVD is a joy to look at. Beautifully sharpened with a light use of diffusion, it’s just one striking scene after another! Once Homer hits the Road, the deliberately bleak look of the orphanage is no more, as colour saturation increases and black level drops a little, brightening things up very nicely indeed. With only a few moments of slight aliasing (car outlines and mainly the crane shot over the Orphanage toward the end of the film), and the odd bit of what appears to be Artifacting (the blue light background during Homers trip with Wally and Candy shifts every so slightly), it’s a transfer that is still well above average!!!
Cider is spread over 2 layers of an RSDL DVD with the layer change occurring within chapter 16 at the 78:18 minute mark.

AUDIO
Cider has been blessed with an absolutely beautiful music score by Rachel Portman (unfortunately denied a 3^rd Oscar for Cider :). You can listen to the incredibly moving music on either the Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround English tracks (the third track is the commentary). Whenever the music score kicks in, it simply fills the room  (and you will want to crank that volume up even higher to have this music envelope you even more!!!!).

Music aside, this is a dialogue driven film and is always clear and intelligible. However, it does waver ever so slightly out of sync from time to time (the effects of sloppy dialogue looping), and there are also a few light audio ‘pops’ in the mix. [I am told these audible pops originated from the master audio mix so nothing could be done for any release of this film] Curse these studios for using cheap dubbing houses to mix their films! (Miramax and New Line seem to be infamous for doing this with their films and it’s a pity that often the distributors like Roadshow are the one’s who cop all the flack! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you really could make a silk purse out of a sows ear! :)

EXTRAS
In recent times, Miramax has gotten behind the 8 balls and started adding a few extras to their DVDs, and so Roadshow were able to secure the rights to a few goodies for this DVD release also! (if only Miramax did this much for their other oscar winning film, Life if Beautiful)

The static menus have the pleasure of a 5.1 audio mix (something I love to hear on DVDs menus!) and are nicely designed with easy navigation (which is even more important than 5.1 audio on menus :)

As is usual fair for Roadshow, all the extras are Anamorphic Widescreen (something I wish MORE distributors would start doing) and not only include English Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired(on the movie only), but also :-

5 deleted scenes totalling a good 8 minutes, all deleted scenes have their own chapter (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround audio) and are of a decent qua

Theatrical Trailer – (1.78 aspect ratio, 2.0 surround sound encoded)

Cast and Crew Bios – Easy to read with plenty of trivia

Dolby Digital Aurora Trailer - always a most welcome extra

The Making of an American Classic – informative 22 minute making of featurette

Commentary Track – a very good commentary recorded the day after the Oscars! from Lasse Hallstrom(director), John Irving(writer/author), and Richard Gladstein(Producer).  With these boys obviously on cloud nine after their big win, it’s a treat to listen to.
(You may find Lasse a tad hard to understand at first, but for some reason he then suddenly becomes easier to understand….go figure! :)

Cider House Rules is a wonderfully uplifting film, despite it’s occasional subject matter and makes for a very nice DVD. (Good to see Gwenyth couldn’t intercept one of these Oscars! :)