After a few years of studio hackwork, Brit legend Michael Powell broke into from-the-heart filmmaking with this 1938 docudrama. Lensed on remote Shetland speck Foula, it's about an isolated community debating a move to the mainland as they struggle to keep pace with modern life. Powell peaks early with a tragedy-bound climbing race to decide the island's fate, but there are further flickers of thevisionary talent that would reach full bloom in classics like The Red Shoes and Peeping Tom.
DVD Extras:
Two docs on offer, one a '20s travelogue (with optional yak-track) about the isle that originally snagged Powell's imagination, the other charting the helmer's late-'70s return to Foula. Best, though, is a first-rate commentary pooling critic Ian Christie, Powell's widow/ Scorsese editor Thelma Schoonmaker and nuggets from the director's Making Of memoir read by Daniel Day-Lewis. Evocative and erudite.
