Release Date: 5/8/2001 Original Release: 1999 Format: DVD Widescreen Length: 180 minutes Rating:R (MPAA) Rating Reason: Strong sexuality, and for violence, language, and nudity. UPC: 097363388043 Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Director István Szabó's SUNSHINE is an epic tale that follows the Polish family the Sonnenscheins through five generations spanning more than 100 years, from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, exploring the history, politics, world wars, social diaspora, and economic shifts that influence and change them during that period.
Beginning with Emmanuel Sonnenschein, who builds a business around the family product (a Taste of Sunshine tonic), the film follows the lineage from his son Ignaz (Ralph Fiennes), a political conservative loyal to the Hungarian Republic, to Ignaz's son Adam (also played by Fiennes), an olympic fencer who is victimized by the Nazi genocide, to Adam's son Ivan (Fiennes again), a member of the Hungarian communist regime who manages to divorce himself from it and be free. Through these transitions, it is Valerie (played by both Jennifer Ehle and her real-life mother, Rosemary Harris), the cousin and wife of Ignaz, who becomes mother to Adam and grandmother to Ivan, supplying moral support, a family backbone, and photographs: a signature snapshot technique is used in the film to round out each major chapter or event. A beautiful film with easy transitions, dramatic scenery and costumes, and admirable performances, SUNSHINE's themes of family, history, and Hungarian pride resonate far beyond the big screen.
DVD Features
Region 1 Keep Case Single Side - Dual Layer Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 Letterbox - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Additional Release Material: Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
This 3-hour epic is probably one of the most powerful films I have ever seen. It tells the story of a Jewish family living in Hungary through three generations. Ralph Fiennes plays three characters... Read the whole review at MatchFlick
