DVD: The Manchurian Candidate – Special Collector’s Edition

Gulf War hero Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) is running for Vice President of the United States. Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington), who Shaw saved along with the rest of his unit, starts to question the events of that night. Is there a plot to put a brainwashed candidate into the White House or is Marco losing his grip on reality?


With remake fever running high in Hollywood, an election-year reworking of this 1962 political thriller was one of the smarter choices. Based on the novel by Richard Condon, its power lies in the fact that the political machinations and shady institutions appear all too real in a post-9/11 world.

There’s a Matrix-like quality to the film and Major Marco has the look of a man who is stuck in a dream world and expects to wake up. The paranoia and air of conspiracy is expertly played with by director Jonathan Demme and crops up in such subtle ways as when an Elvis look-alike is sitting next to Marco when he is researching at the library.

The three main leads are superb. Denzel Washington is on his usual excellent form as a man trying to resist being pulled into insanity and the physical and mental change in his character is extraordinary. One of the extras on the disc is Liev Schreiber’s screen test, which shows how he impressed in a key scene with the right amount of emotion and drive. Topping things off is Meryl Streep as the scarily overbearing and pushy mother, a senator herself who has more ambitious things in mind for her son. Her performance could have fallen into Cruella DeVille territory but it is always kept at the right level.

The best extras on the DVD are the Political Pundits featurettes, where commentators, authors and directors discuss democracy and the American way. Demme and screenplay co-writer Daniel Payne also offer an insightful commentary on the movie and the deleted scenes.

Overall, a powerful political thriller that uses its themes of high-tech mind control to great effect.

Buy The Manchurian Candidate on DVD at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com