Product: The Idiot (4 DVD Set)
Rating: 5.0
An Almost Perfect Novel-to-Film Adaptation
Subtitle frustration aside (I'll get to that)--and approaching this film AFTER reading (and loving) the novel--I was absolutely blown away with how accurately they depicted the novel. I really don't think I've ever seen a film that managed to reproduce so many of the original characters, sub-plots, dialogue, and even the dynamic tones of the original novel. I'm pretty sure Dostoevsky himself might have even recommended this series as an acceptable substitute for actually reading his book.ACTING:9/10The actor who plays the Prince (the "Idiot") looks, acts, and speaks, almost exactly how I had imagined him while reading the book. He was perfect.SCRIPT/STORY:9/10I can't truly judge the actual script since I don't know Russian and the subtitles were practically nonsensical... but I could still tell that the writers did a fantastic job at transferring all the detail and meaning from the pages of the novel to the scenes of the film.SUBTITLES:2/10OK, so here's the one painful flaw of this DVD. I echo past reviewers by saying that the English Subtitles for this film/series are among the worst subs I have seen. Everything about them sucked. Worst of all, they were not in synch with the audio, so an actor would shout something dramatic but by the time the translation popped up, another actor started speaking... I'm pretty sure whoever did the subtitles just happened to hate English speakers. Bottom line with the sub-titles: If I hadn't already read the novel, then no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't have understood most of the story--without knowing Russian, that is.BOTTOM LINE: For English speakers, I would only recommend this for those who have already read the book, or who at least have a firm grip on the major storyline and characters.