Kinsey: Widescreen Version DVD Review

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Title: Kinsey: Widescreen Version

Region: One

Genre: Biographical Drama

Stars: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O’Donnell, Peter Scarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, and Dylan Baker

Writer: Bill Condon

Director: Bill Condon

Feature length: 118 minutes

Extras: Feature Length Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Bill Condon, Deleted/Alternate Scenes With Optional Commentary By Writer/Director Bill Condon, “The Kinsey Report: Sex On Film” Documentary, Trailers, Gag Reel, “Sex Ed At The Kinsey Institute” Featurette, Interactive Sex Questionnaire

Languages: English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Single Sized Two-Disc Amaray Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 32

Sound: DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and Dolby Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2005

Theatrical Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

I find it extremely interesting and somewhat disturbing that I had never heard of Alfred Kinsey before seeing a screening of the film “Kinsey” earlier this year. I find it interesting because I think his research into the nature of sexual behavior is every bit as important as Sigmund Freud’s research and practice of psycho therapy and I find it disturbing because I cannot understand how I could have gotten through graduate school without even coming across his name even though my specialization of studies were not in the areas of human sexuality, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.

However where I earned both my Bachelors and Masters degrees did require each student regardless of their chosen major to take a core curriculum that included three semesters of a foreign language, four science courses in physics, chemistry, biology, and geology, courses in psychology, sociology, and political science, math, English literature, Greek and Roman classics, African and Caribbean studies, philosophy, art history, and music appreciation. These courses were mandatory across the board for anyone and one could not earn their college diploma without taking and passing all of these universal requisites. It was one of the reasons why the school is still considered one of the finest public high education institutions in the world and yet with all of these required classes not one ever mentioned Alfred Kinsey. I would have thought that his name would have at least came up somewhere in a sociology or even a biology class because I think Kinsey’s research transcends several different modes of study. In essence he appears to have been a true scientist in my opinion regardless of whatever methods his research lead him to experiment in.

So I’m disturbed that I could go to college, earn a Masters degree and may have never heard about this guy were it not for this film. It makes me wonder what other holes in my higher education might exist? Writer and Director Bill Condon (Gods And Monsters) has done a brilliant job at exploring a person who seems to have either been ahead of his time or a pioneer in a field that I guess is still largely taboo even in this country. I was listening to a broadcast of The Howard Stern Show one morning and Comedian Arty Lange noted in an on-air conversation that up until 1973 homosexuality was considered a mental illness. I was surprised especially having grown up in one of the most liberal cities in America, New York. I think on a general level Kinsey was seeking a better understanding of human sexual behavior that could be accessed by a general population. You don’t need a college degree to open your mind up to any subject matter anymore than one needs a college degree to become wealthy. I mean there are plenty of brilliant people out there with lousy SAT scores and plenty of wealthy self made people that barely finished high school. So if science can be made available so that any person can read Stephen Hawking and gain a layperson’s understanding of theoretical physics without a strong background in math or science, why shouldn’t anyone be able to gain an understanding of human sexuality, including their own, without a background in psychology, anthropology, biology, sociology, and statistics? It’s like censoring Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” because it features derogatory language related to a character that happens to be of African descent. Anyone who has read Twain would know the outcome of that story and the meaning behind it and they do not need a degree in English to do so. Twain is considered to be the father of what is considered a distinctly unique American voice in literature. Prior to that is is widely believed that American fiction was still largely influenced by European storytelling. Just as we do know that books, including those written by Mark Twain, have been the subject of censorship and I am sad to state that censorship is still all too alive and well in the USA and while I agree there are things out there that can be considered obscene and probably should not be shown to the general public, indiscriminate censorship or majority censorship over a minority without justification is wrong. Of course the real question then is how do you determine what is right or wrong? The answer is as enigmatic as Kinsey’s musings into the nature of love, but I think our gut gives us a sense of what is right or wrong to some degree even if we want deny it so perhaps there is at least a beginning to an answer somewhere over there?

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s DVD edition of “Kinsey” is one of the best I’ve reviewed this year because in form and function the presentation of the film along with it’s bonus features all match together very well. The bells and whistles we expect when we see a film on DVD never overshadow the content on both discs. The anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) presentation is terrific and both the English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack deliver a true atmospheric home theater experience that are equal in overall quality so regardless if you have a home theater receiver with DTS decoding or not, the soundtrack is sharp and clear so in my opinion everyone wins with this disc. A French and a Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack are also encoded onto the first disc along with optional English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and English and Spanish Language Subtitles. Writer and Director Bill Condon provides an exceptional feature length audio commentary track as well as optional commentary for a reel of 18 letterboxed deleted scenes that can be viewed individually or collectively. The commentary is supported very well by the intriguing documentary “The Kinsey Report: Sex On Film (83:31), which explores the making of the film as well as gives insight into the real person the film is based on with some comments from researchers at The Kinsey Institute. This documentary is divided into seven chapter stops and is itself supported by a brief look at some of the items within The Kinsey Institute (6:35). An interactive sex questionnaire complete with detailed explanations of the results is also included on the DVD along with the theatrical teaser (: 48), theatrical trailer (2:39), and a gag reel (2:58).

A bonus trailer for “What The Bleep Do We Know?” (1:18) as well as a Fox Searchlight Films advertisement (1:48) wrap up the extra value features included within this DVD set. The main menu for each disc is brilliantly animated while the subsequent menus are all standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate. “Kinsey: Widescreen Version” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

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