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Proof
Koch Vision // Unrated // January 16, 2007
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"Proof" crams quite a bit into a tight 200 minutes: human trafficking, forced prostitution, murder, suicide, blackmail, political conspiracy, journalistic ethics, kidnapping, and plain old trouble at home. The miniseries, which premiered on Irish television in early 2004 and spawned a sequel the following year, is a rousing, completely absorbing mystery, the sort of involving TV that pulls you in and suckers you into plowing through the entire story in one sitting. It's the television equivalent of a real page-turner.
Written by Tony Philpot ("On the Nose"), directed by Ciarán Donnelly (the upcoming "The Tudors" series), and packed wall-to-wall with first rate performances, "Proof" kicks off with the gruesome discovery of a group of Albanians who died while being smuggled into Dublin inside an airtight shipping container. This brings Nina (Sisde Babett Knudsen) to town in search of her sister, who was trafficked out of Albania and has not been heard from since. Meanwhile, a young punk steals a car, only to discover its contents - a laptop containing valuable information - is enough to get you shot in the head. Disgraced journalist Terry Corcoran (Finbar Lynch) is on the story, wondering why the teen has cocaine in his nostrils and heroin on his fingertips, but no drugs at all in his bloodstream. Just what's going on here? Along the way, Nina and Terry cross paths, and quickly he's helping her find her sister. Quicker still is the discovery that the two stories just might be linked.
It's the sort of issues-heavy storyline that begs for political grandstanding, and Philpot occasionally obliges; a few scenes feature characters spouting off facts and figures in an Aaron Sorkinesque manner, awkwardly so. (The numbers regarding human trafficking and underground sex trade are sobering indeed, but having Nina blurt them out over coffee is an ill-fitting choice.) Other slip-ups that take us out of the story include moments like the one where Terry begins thinking out loud, talking to himself in order to explain everything to the audience. For a series rich with complexity, cheats like this stick out all too sorely.
Ah, but what complexity it is. "Proof" offers up a tangled web, with three storylines crisscrossing throughout (the third features the impending elections, with Terry's ex serving as press secretary to the leading Prime Minister candidate, a real slickster) in glorious fashion. Add to this problems at home - Terry's father suffers from increasing dementia, and his sister struggles to take care of him - and the series becomes a rich drama willing to develop its characters without risking its rapid fire pacing or its bitter edge.
The series is, above all else, an angry drama, as evident in its very title. The "who" part of the whodunit is often no secret, but nothing can be done without hard, cold proof. The police are sympathetic to Nina's plight but unwilling to act on suspicion alone. Later, the entire plot hinges on the ownership of a CD containing valuable data. Let's ignore the question of why nobody bothers to just copy the damn thing (or why the bad guys don't just destroy it while they can), and focus instead on how the disc plays not as some MacGuffin, but as the actual clincher of the plot - if the good guys have it, they can blow the lid off the whole scandal, but if they don't, there's nothing to back up their story. It's not about who knows what, conspiracy-wise, but about who has the proof.
This is none more clear than in a scene in the fourth episode, where Terry is told by his editor that without the disc, the cover-up will just go on to become one of the countless stories the press has been unable to make public. It's a horrible place, living in between knowing something important and not being able to shout it from the rooftops.
Even without this harsh commentary, "Proof" still wins as a taut thriller, packing more nail-biting danger into its four chapters than many series bother including over an entire 22-episode season. This is terrific stuff all around.
The DVD
Koch Vision collects all four 50-minute episodes of "Proof" onto two discs, two episodes per disc, housed in a single-wide keep case with a hinged holder for the second disc.
Video & Audio
"Proof" looks fairly solid in its original 1.33:1 broadcast format, with some mild softness reminding us of its Irish TV roots. The Dolby stereo soundtrack, highlighting John Walsh's moody, evocative score, comes through quite clearly. No subtitles are provided.
Extras
None, except for the handful of previews for other Koch releases that play when you load the first disc.
Final Thoughts
If you're looking for another TV series to get you good and hooked, you've just found it. Recommended to fans of character-driven mystery and/or elaborate conspiracy thrillers.
Written by Tony Philpot ("On the Nose"), directed by Ciarán Donnelly (the upcoming "The Tudors" series), and packed wall-to-wall with first rate performances, "Proof" kicks off with the gruesome discovery of a group of Albanians who died while being smuggled into Dublin inside an airtight shipping container. This brings Nina (Sisde Babett Knudsen) to town in search of her sister, who was trafficked out of Albania and has not been heard from since. Meanwhile, a young punk steals a car, only to discover its contents - a laptop containing valuable information - is enough to get you shot in the head. Disgraced journalist Terry Corcoran (Finbar Lynch) is on the story, wondering why the teen has cocaine in his nostrils and heroin on his fingertips, but no drugs at all in his bloodstream. Just what's going on here? Along the way, Nina and Terry cross paths, and quickly he's helping her find her sister. Quicker still is the discovery that the two stories just might be linked.
It's the sort of issues-heavy storyline that begs for political grandstanding, and Philpot occasionally obliges; a few scenes feature characters spouting off facts and figures in an Aaron Sorkinesque manner, awkwardly so. (The numbers regarding human trafficking and underground sex trade are sobering indeed, but having Nina blurt them out over coffee is an ill-fitting choice.) Other slip-ups that take us out of the story include moments like the one where Terry begins thinking out loud, talking to himself in order to explain everything to the audience. For a series rich with complexity, cheats like this stick out all too sorely.
Ah, but what complexity it is. "Proof" offers up a tangled web, with three storylines crisscrossing throughout (the third features the impending elections, with Terry's ex serving as press secretary to the leading Prime Minister candidate, a real slickster) in glorious fashion. Add to this problems at home - Terry's father suffers from increasing dementia, and his sister struggles to take care of him - and the series becomes a rich drama willing to develop its characters without risking its rapid fire pacing or its bitter edge.
The series is, above all else, an angry drama, as evident in its very title. The "who" part of the whodunit is often no secret, but nothing can be done without hard, cold proof. The police are sympathetic to Nina's plight but unwilling to act on suspicion alone. Later, the entire plot hinges on the ownership of a CD containing valuable data. Let's ignore the question of why nobody bothers to just copy the damn thing (or why the bad guys don't just destroy it while they can), and focus instead on how the disc plays not as some MacGuffin, but as the actual clincher of the plot - if the good guys have it, they can blow the lid off the whole scandal, but if they don't, there's nothing to back up their story. It's not about who knows what, conspiracy-wise, but about who has the proof.
This is none more clear than in a scene in the fourth episode, where Terry is told by his editor that without the disc, the cover-up will just go on to become one of the countless stories the press has been unable to make public. It's a horrible place, living in between knowing something important and not being able to shout it from the rooftops.
Even without this harsh commentary, "Proof" still wins as a taut thriller, packing more nail-biting danger into its four chapters than many series bother including over an entire 22-episode season. This is terrific stuff all around.
The DVD
Koch Vision collects all four 50-minute episodes of "Proof" onto two discs, two episodes per disc, housed in a single-wide keep case with a hinged holder for the second disc.
Video & Audio
"Proof" looks fairly solid in its original 1.33:1 broadcast format, with some mild softness reminding us of its Irish TV roots. The Dolby stereo soundtrack, highlighting John Walsh's moody, evocative score, comes through quite clearly. No subtitles are provided.
Extras
None, except for the handful of previews for other Koch releases that play when you load the first disc.
Final Thoughts
If you're looking for another TV series to get you good and hooked, you've just found it. Recommended to fans of character-driven mystery and/or elaborate conspiracy thrillers.
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