The Good Lie is captivating on Blu-ray

Captivating is the word that may immediately come to the minds of individuals who take a gander at Warner Brothers’ The Good Lie. As a matter of fact, awesome and fascinating may also be suitable words. Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon is the sole headliner in a film concerning a few smart and determined survivors of the civil war in Sudan back in the 1980s. The film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year before opening on October 3. The Good Lie was met with positive reviews from critics and that’s the same thing it’s going to get here.

Simply put, the film was intriguing. The cinematography was pretty solid in the prologue set in Sudan. It seems the production team set out to capture the harsh realities of war and that was certainly what was on display. There was something a little disturbing about seeing adult soldiers chasing little children with rifles and shooting them if caught. However, perhaps this is what the director wants the viewer to feel. It was certainly effective. I watched this movie with my aunt who, up until that scene, was half asleep on the couch. However, she was jolted awake and stayed awake for the duration of the film.

“Some folks just have to grow up so fast,” she said with sadness. And she’s right. It seems we both received a bit of a history lesson … in addition to some top notch video quality. The film is presented in 1080p high definition and comes with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English) and Dolby Digital (French and Spanish). Subtitles come in English, French and Spanish. It’s also worth mentioning that the Blu-ray does come with a DVD as well which is a nice touch. The special features are typical but not boring – a feature with Witherspoon and director Philippe Falardeau sharing the challenges and triumphs of creating the motion picture, and a few deleted scenes.

There are some things that I did enjoy about The Good Lie. For starters, I loved the teamwork amongst the children in the tribe back in Sudan and I particularly enjoyed how devoted they were to reading the Bible and using it as a source of perseverance. I also liked how things were portrayed after the 13-year time jump that took place towards the second act of the film. I’m a sucker for camaraderie and it was nice to know that these friends stuck together after humanitarian efforts brought them to the America.

However, what I really enjoyed was seeing Witherspoon bring warmth and humor to her role as an assistant of sorts to the people of Sudan. It was funny seeing her help them get acclimated to American culture (i.e. introducing them to phones, light switches and even Jell-O). All in all, she did a great job and reminded viewers why she nabbed that Academy Award a few years ago.

Warner Brothers has another hit on their hand with The Good Lie. If movie lovers are looking for quality then this is definitely the way to go. That’s not a fib, folks. It’s a good truth.