Adrien Brody also features, talking about his preparation for the role and his experiences working with Polanski on such a personal project. Featuring alongside is footage of the real Warsaw ghetto taken by Nazi soldiers and the photographs used as a basis for some of the film's key scenes. Most poignant are the images of the real Szpilman, who died in 2000, still finding pleasure in playing the piano despite his horrendous past. A photo gallery, trailer, posters and filmographies are perfunctory additions. -Laura Bushell.

As an historical introduction to the disastrous Dardanelles campaign of 1915, it isn't bad-the odd liberties taken with the facts, while annoying (especially, one imagines, if you have ancestors among the 30,000 British troops buried on the peninsula) are just about forgivable. And as an explanation and distillation of the Gallipoli legend that looms so large in the Australian consciousness, it is unbeatable not least because the film itself did so much to fuel it. It is no coincidence that the numbers of Australians at the April 25th dawn service at Gallipoli have been increasing every year since the film was released in 1981. Mel Gibson and Mark Lee play two young sprinters who join in the army in search of adventure iconic representatives of the generation of young men that the newly federated Australia pitched into the slaughter of World War I. While Gallipoli does not shirk from the reality they discover, nor does it quite allow the characters' enthusiasm for the enterprise ever to diminish, all of which helps make the climactic scenes, based on the suicidal assault enacted of the Australian Light Horse at The Nek on August 7th, 1915, among the most moving in modern cinema. On the DVD: The disc is in anamorphic widescreen, and can be heard in either English or German; many more languages are available as subtitles. The two special features included are the cinema trailer for the film, which should serve thoroughly to enrage any Australian viewers with both its delivery (in an American accent) and patronising sales pitch ("From a place you've never heard of. comes a story you'll never forget". ) There is also a brief interview with director Peter Weir, which yields a few faintly interesting reminiscences about the film's gestation, but fails completely to ask him any of the many questions about the Anzac legend, jingoism, and the relationship between historical truth and cinematic art, raised by the film. -Andrew Mueller.

The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music-an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary-is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. -Piers Ford.

35:1 CinemaScope, though some shots clearly have details cropped at the sides of the frame. Picture quality is good with an acceptable level of grain, which increases significantly during the brief back projection shots. There is a little print damage, but nothing too distracting and the aerial photography itself looks wonderful. The four-channel Dolby Prologic sound is excellent for a film of this age, with Jerry Goldsmith's superb score having richness and clarity and providing almost all the emotional impact. -Gary S Dalkin.

-Jeff Shannon.