The life of conservationist Dian Fossey, who spent 20 years trying to save the mountain gorilla, is celebrated in a film that gets its backbone from a strong performance by Sigourney Weaver. The DVD release could offer so much more, but for fans of the film, there is one powerful extra feature.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture With either constant mist or swirling dust in the frame, this is fertile territory for a grainy image. The transfer to disc therefore is tough. So the picture quality is acceptable but it could be better.

Sound The 2.0 Dolby mix is a light surround with little in terms of separation between the speakers, but it's adequate. Indeed it would be better if it somehow just buried Maurice Jarre's cheap music score.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Behind the Scenes You never expect a behind-the-scenes featurette on a DVD to grab your attention, but this nine-minute promotional piece does just that. There's the usual background story to the evolution of the film, the character direction, and actors chatting about what they're trying to do.

Just as you find yourself dropping off, we're behind the scenes of an early shoot in the jungle. Sigourney is in frame and a Silverback gorilla is approaching. All she can do is sit there and not move a muscle, hoping nothing will go wrong. The fear on her face is palpable, and well she might be scared. To find out how it ends, you'd better get yourself the disc.

Additional Extra Features The only additional extra offered is the trailer

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Region: 2
Chapters: 33
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (surround)
Audio Tracks: English, French and Italian
Subtitles: English and multiple languages
Captions: English and Italian
Menus: Static
Special Features Subtitles: The behind-the-scenes featurette comes with subtitles. None are available for the trailer.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.