The Story:
In a small Finland town, unrelated people are all dealing with life's hardships, and the only thing that ties their lives together is the boom of a crane. This crane is part of a bungee jumping event going on in the center of town, and the boom that is heard in each story is to signify where each story's time coincides.

The River deals with a variety of issues. At the beginning, we see a young woman named Anni walking into the river with her baby, clearly planning to drown them both, but a young man Kimmo is intent on stopping her. At the same time, a young man named Santeri is attempting to keep secret that he is gay and seeing another young man (I'll say right up front that this segment is short, and those looking for a gay-themed film shouldn't look here). Esa, a struggling musician, arrives for his father's birthday party, but must try to fix his family's problems—and his own. Leena works at a pizza parlor where she's trying to fix one of her fellow employees up with her boss. IIpo leaves work early because he's sick, and when he gets home, he finds out something about his wife that could destroy their family. And elderly Milja is in the hospital at her dying husband's bedside, but it's not a fight for his life she gets into with the nurses and doctors at the hospital.

Every character, every story in this movie draws you in, and you become engrossed in what each character is experiencing and what the outcome of each situation is going to be. The stories are intimately drawn and filled with emotion. On that level, it works brilliantly. However, this is just fleeting glimpses into the lives of these people, and therefore, don't expect any resolution. You expect to come back to the lives being visited, or expect them all to tie in at the end, but there's only a vague connection at the film's closing—which ironically leaves you with the bleak outlook most of the characters have in this moving film.

The DVD

Video:
With an anamorphic aspect ratio of 1:85:1, enhanced for 16x9 TVs, your initial impression with the visual presentation is going to be a good one. Overall, it has a cinematic feel. But there are some underlying issues. Dust and dirt on the print is minor. There isn't quite enough color saturation, and the black areas are excessively dark, making the bright areas look washed out. Flesh tones are a pale yellow. There's some edge enhancement which softens the image slightly, and pixilation is noticeable when there's quick movement on screen.

Sound:
The audio track is Dolby 2.0 stereo. There's a little experimentation with left/right separation, but nothing all that impressive. However, the sound is crystal clear, and the bass is clean and responsive, if rarely needed considering this is a dialogue driven movie.

Extras:
This is a straightforward DVD, with 8 chapter breaks, subtitle options for French, Spanish and English, and a letterboxed trailer for the movie with subtitles.

Final Thoughts:
The River looks at the hardships of an assortment of people of all ages in a small Finland town. Emotionally presented, the characters draw you in, but the movie ends up feeling like a series of very short films strung together. Heart-wrenching topics seem to get glossed over, there is no resolution, and the lives of the characters living in this same town never cross. Bottom line is, this is a well–acted film of a familiar genre, and while some of the stories are quite touching, they're all stories we've heard before—in full elsewhere.