Fires of Kuwait (DVD)

Yet another example of a superb IMAX film. Shot entirely on location in the oil fields of Kuwait, this film is one of the most dramatic and spectacular documentaries that was ever made. In the words of Director and Cinematographer David Douglas, "It represents the the best and worst that humans have to offer." The photography is superior and while never truly reproducing the IMAX scale on a 36 inch Sony 'WEGA' screen, the contrast between blackness and vivid color is most impressive. The detail is simply remarkable. There is a small amount of 'film artifact' that remains in this version, but it is minimal and does not distract from the overall presentation. The fires and blasts continue to send chills down my spine with each viewing! I am a part-time pyrotechnician/licensed blaster and will attest that this is the closest that I have to seen to reproducing the real thing on screen. The 5.1 Dolby Digital remaster is excellent and did very well on my Onkyo home theater. The low end is most impressive and only adds to the drama. If one were to photograph the fires of hell, I think this is how I would see it.The narration by Rip Torn is interesting. An informative and factual script documents the monumental tasks that face the men and women that fight oil well fires, though the images tell most of the story. Although not prominently featured, you get to meet living legends in the business like George Hill and others in Joe Bowden's team. You can almost feel the heat coming off the screen! There is a strong message presented with this film and it will hit you right over the head. The accompanying 'documentary' on this dvd is very short and presents some commentary, but if there is one weakness with this disk, it is here. Expecting something from the MacGillivray IMAX series, this does not compete with those 'Making of...' films. This is the only IMAX film that I have not watched with my toddler children, as I believe it may be a bit too intense for them. For everyone else, I would recommend this movie to own and watch over and over and keep its message close to your heart.

My spouse and daughter were in Kuwait for almost 10yrs. We watched this at an IMAX theater in Salmiya, Kuwait. It’s amazing and will make your skin crawl. Kuwait is so beautiful now, we won’t recognize it by the before and after. Highly recommended!

This DVD conversion of an imax film is absolute trash. So bad I think I will return it as defective. It is super blurry and poorly converted. You can’t read the text at the end for instance which isn’t even that small and then you encounter the same issue on the title screen. It is not a resolution issue alone. I watched it on a 150” screen and even at that size it is so blurry and fuzzy you can’t read the text or see the detail through out the film. This is something specific to how they converted this film as I have many imax films on dvd and a few on bluray and most are fine. For instance I have the imax film “super speedway” and with the same upscaling dvd player the picture is super sharp and the sound is great. The sound here is bad as well. Save your money and find footage on YouTube, the quality is probably better. It honestly looks like something that was recorded off the imax screen with a vhs camcorder and then that vhs tape was converted to dvd. It’s that bad.

Great story and info, terrible video clarity. Worst quality DVD of an IMAX movie we have seen.

As Saddam's Iraqi army retreated from Kuwait during the Gulf War, his troops set fire to the oil fields, leaving them burning uncontrollably at a rate of over five million barrels of oil per day. If left alone these fields would have continued burning for over one hundred years dumping polluting soot and environmentally damaging byproducts into the atmosphere. This film captures the extraordinary scale of the situation and the complicated task and methods employed to extinguish these fires.

I first saw this film on Imax and was immediately taken by the story and cinematography. The outright genius, and heroism, of the oil field firefighters is astonishing. The entire planet owes these men and women a debt of gratitude.

When I had ordered this movie, I was expecting an unmatchable quality that all IMAX films provide, with an overabundance of never-imagined realities of our surroundings. I'm a fan of the IMAX experience. This is why my recent purchase and viewing of FIRES OF KUWAIT was somewhat disappointing. The picture looked blurry to me. Not in certain areas, but continuously. Everything was enormously amazing to see, but we kept saying that we wished the focus was more sharp and clear. Oh... the horror....Maybe we shouldn't.

good movie, saw it in IMAX. Not as good on regular screen... =)

Le dvd est comme un neuf.

Die DVD kann mit deutschen Geräten nicht abgespielt werden, kein Hinweis beim Kauf darüber !, Die DVD ist damit nicht abspielbar.

Interesting but all too short documentary about an astonishing time in human history. It's amazing how quickly the oil fires were extinguished, and you cannot fail to admire the courage and dedication of all the firefighters and engineers. You can only imagine the environmental damage that would have resulted if the fires had burned for as long as was originally forecast. Being a transfer from videotape, the picture quality isn't brilliant, and the end credits are all but illegible. Still, for the price one cannot complain too much.

I do like the documentary and the subject matter is very interesting. However, the video and sound quality are horrible. I am not sure if this is because it's a DVD, but I don't remember DVD's being THAT bad for video. I just ended up watching the documentary on YouTUBE in HD...

Disappointed. Condensed to much from original.