The Miracle Of Life (Nova/WGBH set)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: B- Main Program: B
In 1982,
Nova and Swedish Television came up with the then-groundbreaking documentary
science program The Miracle Of Life. A hit in its time and instantly used in
schools nationwide, the first intricately filmed look at the growth of a baby
human from conception to birth was a real event at the time. WGBH Boston Video has issued the program on
DVD as a single, but has reissued it with a follow-up program Life’s First Feelings that has also
been previously issued as a single DVD.
Photographed
by Lennart Nilsson, Miracle holds up
very well and coming out of a time when everything scientific simply
demystified all myths and extremist pretensions, the kind that have come back
with a vengeance to the detriment of us all.
Here, it is a “no spin zone” of scientific fact and a deeper truth about
human beauty unto itself. Since the
abortion debate became one of the great distractions since its first broadcast,
its groundbreaking innovations have been forgotten and buried by time. Part of this had to do with people being able
to think for themselves. Life’s First Feelings is also a solid
piece about child development form a time when it did not have its own
market. If you need to get either
program, you might as well get both in this set.
The 1.33
x 1 image on both programs show their age, from older film prints (16mm?) but
still watchable. Restoration and HD
transfers will be needed in the near future, but these hold up just enough,
while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on both seem to come from optical tracks
possibly a generation down as well. The
second show is considered an extra, but otherwise, there is nothing else. At least the shows are solid.
- Nicholas Sheffo
