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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 14003
Released: December 11, 2001 |
| Our Price: $18.98 |
| Used Price: $18.45 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
With "cool eroticism, intelligence and intensity" (Playboy), this eerie futuristic thriller,based on Margaret Atwood's controversial and critically acclaimed best-selling novel, is filled with "large themes and deep thoughts" (Roger Ebert). Boasting a phenomenal cast, including Natasha Richardson (Nell) and Oscar(r) winners* Faye Dunaway (Network) and Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies), this film "dazzles with its ingenuity and shocks with its outrageousness" (WNCN Radio)! In the not-so-distant future, strong-willed and beautiful Kate (Richardson) possesses a precious commodity that most women have lost and most men want to control fertility. Forced into a brain-washing boot camp that turns fertile women into surrogate mothers for social-elite men and their infertile wives, Kate thinks she's made out well when she's assigned to an eminent partyleader (Duvall). But when she learns that he's sterile, she's faced with the impossible choice: produce him an heir or die! *Dunaway: Actress, Network (1976); Duvall: Actor, Tender Mercies (1983)
Description of The Handmaid's Tale:
Set in a time when a buildup of toxic chemicals has made most people sterile, Volker Schlondorff's film offers a disturbing view of a society under martial law in which fertile women are captured and made into handmaids to bear children for rich and infertile matrons. The film unfolds from the eyes of newly converted handmaid Kate (Natasha Richardson). She is trapped in this mysogynistic society which both deifies these fertile women as prized possessions and condemns them as whores. Throughout the story Kate has to cope with the jealousy of the woman she serves (Faye Dunaway), the advances of her sleazy military husband (the Commander, played by Robert Duvall), and the loss of her daughter, who has been shuttled off to a similarly aristocratic setting. She also falls in love with one of the Commander's security guards (Aidan Quinn), who sympathizes with her plight and potentially offers her a way out. Throughout The Handmaid's Tale, issues of feminism, abortion rights, male dominance, and conservative religious politics all come under fire. Some may view the film itself as antifemale considering its concepts, but it is quite the opposite. Instead it shows how only through solidarity can women bring down an overriding patriarchical mindset. The film, which works from Harold Pinter's screenplay adaption of Margaret Atwood's novel, features strong performances from those mentioned as well as Elizabeth McGovern and Victoria Tennant. --Bryan Reesman
The Handmaid's Tale Reviews:
Excellent! 
2009-11-24 - This is a excellent film, with a outstanding cast. I was hooked when I first saw it. Victoria Tennant was chilling, Faye Dunaway and Robert Duval, were perfectly suited for one another! Natasha Richardson was such a natural for this movie, but, my favorite was Maureen McGovern, so beautiful, and as always, shows her tremendous acting abilities, I personally think that she should have received an oscar nomination. I see that this dvd has been discontinued, purchase your copy now before the prices go too high. This movie will be a excellent addition to your dvd collection.
Well done
2009-09-23 - I received the DVD 9/14/09, the top edge of DVD box was damaged, but that was all. I applaud your patience in sending me the product after my mistake in address. Thank you and I would definitely order from them again.
Politically Correct Slander 
2009-07-25 - This novel is not a work of genius designed to make you think. It is a politically correct straw man designed to indoctrinate you. Even Hitler's Germany produced no such culture as Gilead; indeed, such a society is not envisioned by ANY conservative or Christian group - it's all made up. Ask yourself - would ANYONE really act this way? A "Christian" slave state? Come on, America was FOUNDED by conservative Christians. They don't want a world like this any more than atheists, secularists, or Jews do. This novel is just a cover for anti-religious slander. The author's intention is to attack a certain religion - it is hate literature. Here in Canada we are taught to respect other people's religions - everyone should respect others, yes, even aggressive feminists like the author should. Handmaid's Tale is an ugly, offensive work of bigotry, the kind of thing Nicholas II and Hitler produced about the Jews before targeting them. Fairminded college profs will expose it, not require it.
Excellent Movie!!
2009-05-03 - This movie is definitely prophetic. I find its plot to be very probable. As a woman, this was an eye opener. Great movie!
Horrible Seller
2009-04-21 - I bought the DVD before the actress died. Apparently the DVD became out of print and in demand. Suddenly, the seller didnt have the item. Sounds like a liar to me.
