There's a very good reason why this movie picked up a Golden Globe for Best Picture and came probably closest amongst the five Oscar nominees to unseating No Country For Old Men as Best Picture. It is an almost flawless film that will certainly be talked about by film historians and critics for years to come as how to do a literary adaptation correctly and how some can make a movie that is both intimate and epic.

Many people who read the Ian McEwan book that this film is based on were, even after the first few chapters, commenting what a brilliant movie the source material would make. The British author's description of the Tallis's country manor or the vivid picture of World War II that he painted, not to mention the brilliant evocations of the inner struggles of the main characters, were ripe for a cinematic treatment.

So, it came as no surprise that the film adaptation arrived on the scene this past fall, sending critics into dizzying fits of glee and emotion over the performances of the three leads and the intense cinematography (particularly the much-vaunted single tracking shot through the beachside chaos in Dunkirk).

What did astonish some viewers was how closely director Joe Wright and his screenwriter held to the book. With only a few minor tweaks for the sake of time and clarity, the plot was pretty much exactly as McEwan laid it out. So, to see it brought to such vibrant life was a revelation and a relief.

I do have to side with the critics in that enough cannot be said about the acting in this film, particularly that of James McAvoy as the gardener's son whose one misstep sends his life into a spiral of fleeting joys and agonizing despair, and Saoirse Ronan, who captures the precocious angst of Briony Tallis – the young girl whose misinterpretation of certain events sets the film on the trail towards its heartbreaking denouement.

This film is worth all the accolades tossed its way and then some. To finally have it available for home viewing, allowing film scholars the opportunity to take it scene by scene and really see how a masterful film is made, is yet another cause for celebration.

Come for the acting and story, but stay for Seamus McGarvey's cinematography which is given its full due on this DVD. The anamorphic transfer really helps to make the bright summer scenes and dark wartime section truly come alive.

The sound is mixed a little oddly with the music cooked up by Dario Marianelli riding too high during a few key scenes, but it is tempered nicely during the Dunkirk section.

Deleted scenes
Bringing The Past To Life: The Making of Atonement
From Novel to Screen: Adapting a Classic
Feature Commentary with director Joe Wright