Product Description

You've never experienced anything quite like POWDER -- the uplifting, must-see hit that audiences and critics loved! Harassed by classmates who won't accept his shocking appearance, a shy young man known as Powder struggles to fit in. But the cruel taunts stop when Powder displays a mysterious power that allows him to do extraordinary things. This phenomenon changes the lives of all those around him ... in ways they never could have imagined. Hollywood stars Jeff Goldblum (JURASSIC PARK) and Mary Steenburgen (PHILADELPHIA) lead a top-notch cast in this unforgettable story of hope and wonder.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6808 in DVD
• Brand: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 1999-08-10
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com
For all its flaws, Powder is still worthwhile for attempting to be unique and well intentioned. The film's qualities were overshadowed after its 1995 release when it was revealed that writer-director Victor Salva had served 15 months in prison for molesting a child actor during production of the 1988 TV movie Clownhouse. Controversy aside, Powder is a welcome step off the beaten path with sufficient strengths to balance its weaknesses. Fantasy and drama combine in the story of a teenager known as Powder for his snow-white skin. Powder is introduced into a tiny Texas community after spending his entire life in his grandparents' basement. He's a wise genius, but an outcast, alienated by those who misunderstand and fear him. When a schoolmaster (Mary Steenburgen) and science teacher (Jeff Goldblum) discover that Powder has a capacity for empathic insight and possesses the power to control electricity, the unusual boy becomes a tragic Christ-like figure--peaceful, prophetic, and perhaps too good to survive in the real world. In telling this heartfelt story, Powder struggles to be all things to all viewers--equal parts E.T. and The Elephant Man--which compromises its overall impact. But even though it's not a great movie, it sincerely tries to accomplish something original and wonderful, and that's more than most movies can claim. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A saccharine nightmare about an albino teen-ager with telekinetic powers and an otherworldly I.Q. (he was born during a thunderstorm). The beginning is a blatant rip-off of "Edward Scissorhands": the boy (Sean Patrick Flanery), whose eerie alabaster skin has kept him from interacting with others, is left alone by the death of his guardian; a kindly woman (Mary Steenburgen) takes him out of hiding and shows him the world. When he is taunted and bullied, the film moves into De Palma territory-things explode around him as they did around Andrew Stevens in "The Fury." But instead of going for wicked and funny, the director, Victor Salva, cues the maudlin music, and the movie becomes a tearjerker. It crashes (fittingly) in a final lightning storm of special effects. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A Most Misunderstood Film
The first time I saw this movie I was really moved by it. It seemed the kind of thing I wish I had written as a story, or the kind of movie I would like to make.

After reading the reviews, most of which were negative, I almost wondered if I had seen a different movie. Yes, there were flaws. Perhaps, many, and reference to a Michael Jackson look-a-like might apply in some eyes.

However, what I saw was a view of the best and worst of humanity. Yes, it has been done before and perhaps better. But I felt it was one of the few times when science and religion were tied to a common ground.

Many laughed at this movie, especially the end and I wonder why, unless I am wrong in it's overall interpretation.

To me, what it was saying is that humanity is special in that we can know that we are part of everything around us, and all is part of us. We can most of all touch each other in powerful life giving ways. To feel each others pain, and even the pain of everything around us that lives.

To me the ending was a self-sacrifice. He was giving, in a special way, his energy, love and understanding, which was the best part of himself, to the universe and to others. He knew that he was going to be limited in living a free life. People would not ever leave him alone, and he could never be alone again, now that he had been out in society.

Some have said that the other characters in the movie were overdone. Perhaps, they were just uncomfortable at seeing parts of themselves. Having been a victim of prejudice and hatred myself, I have lived among some of these people, and some of them are as close as next door to me, and I do not see anything overdone about them at all.

Mankind can be very cruel. Killing is cruel when it is done for the pure sport of it. Unlike many others, I found that scene very powerful when the boy passes the pain of a dying animal, who is dying for no reason other than man's pleasure, on to the man who shot him.

The movie might have failed in many ways to make some of the points it tried to make. Some of the scenes were not well done, but overall it was a movie to ponder and to make us think, and a mirror for the best and worst of ourselves. The characters were all of us. I believe that we are energy and light, and goodness and darkness. But in giving to each other and loving each other, we can tap into our full humanity. That is what the movie said to me. We are capable of so much, and life, the universe and ourselves are so sacred.

Sorry folks, I agree it was not a perfect movie, but open your eyes. Neither are we, yet look at our recent around the world celebration of 2000.

We should be proud that it went without incident all over the world. We deserved it after much of the pain and torture of this past century. To me, this movie was saying that the human spirit is about peace, love, energy and light, and it is a gift we can daily give to others, but some are too closed to see it, and for some their pain is too great. We need to reach out to others, loving them and ourselves more.

This movie was about loving. Not perfect, but then neither are we.

Magnificent, deeply moving parable

POWDER

(USA - 1995)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital

Every so often, a movie comes out of nowhere which touches you so deeply, on so many levels, that it stays in your heart forever. POWDER is such a movie.

The premise is deceptively simple: Following the death of his last remaining adult guardian on their isolated farm, a young albino man nicknamed 'Powder' (Sean Patrick Flanery) is taken into the custody of local authorities. But his genius IQ and ability to harness electricity - leading to spectacular displays of apparently 'magical' behavior - arouses the suspicions of frightened townsfolk, and while he's able to change some people's lives for the better (and how!), others are too consumed by hatred to accept this strange, unique outsider. Thus, the stage is set for potential tragedy...

Writer-director Victor Salva (also responsible for the superb RITES OF PASSAGE, 1998) has constructed a modern parable which works both as a simple entertainment and as a powerful meditation on the nature of Good and Evil. Episodic in structure, the narrative pitches Powder's strange appearance and gentle manner against some of the worst aspects of the human condition - bigotry, mistrust, cruelty - and though Salva makes a brave attempt to portray these shameful characteristics in various shades of grey, his script acknowledges that some people are defined by their hatred and cannot easily be changed. That said, whilst the film doesn't flinch from the rough stuff, it's ultimately a joyous celebration of the human spirit: Though evil flourishes, goodness prevails.

POWDER contains a wealth of memorable moments, but some scenes are truly outstanding, such as Powder's first appearance as a ghost-like figure hovering in the darkness of the cellar where he's been hiding since his grandfather's death; the beautiful/terrible moment in the dining hall of the reformatory when Powder realizes he's never going to be accepted by his peers, no matter how hard he tries; the emotionally devastating sequence with the wounded deer (absolutely unforgettable!); and the sheriff's (Lance Henriksen) last desperate attempt to communicate with his terminally-ill wife (a touching, wordless performance by Dannete McMann). Few other 'fantasy' films of recent years have been so deeply, profoundly moving as this.

Production values are top-notch all the way down the line: From Jerzy Zielinski's beautiful, flawless cinematography, to Jerry Goldsmith's low-key score; from Waldemar Kalinowski's unobtrusive production design, to Dennis M. Hill's expert editing - this is the work of talented craftspeople operating at the top of their game, perfectly in tune with the director's intentions. But the real magic is conjured by a superb cast: Top-billed Mary Steenburgen and Jeff Goldblum are quietly effective in virtual supporting roles, while Brandon Smith underplays the part of a bigoted deputy sheriff whose life is changed forever by his encounter with the title character. As always, Lance Henriksen (who also played the lead in Salva's earlier THE NATURE OF THE BEAST, 1994) distinguishes himself as a humane but disillusioned lawman whose convictions are thoroughly shaken by Powder's remarkable abilities. Look out, also, for terrific turns by Bradford Tatum (as the leader of the bullies who make life a misery for Powder), Missy Crider (the potential love-interest) and the always-wonderful Susan Tyrrell (the sheriff's well-meaning but narrow-minded housekepeper) in small but crucial roles.

But the heart and soul of the picture is, of course, Powder himself, played with heartbreaking sensitivity by Sean Patrick Flanery. Almost unrecognizable beneath an unusual makeup job (by industry veterans Thomas R. Burman and Bari Dreiband-Burman) which preserves much of his natural beauty whilst also emphasizing the characters' appealing otherworldliness, he plays Powder without any trace of self-pity; instead, he highlights the kindness and vulnerability of a Christ-like figure whose greatest curse is his total comprehension of the world and its inequities, and by his understanding that he'll never be a part of it (when a vicious thug whispers in his ear: "You really think you can be like us...?", you half-expect Powder to reply: "Who'd WANT to be?!"). Powder embodies many of the qualities which are largely absent from our own lives - goodness, compassion, and an appreciation of Nature in all its rich diversity - and Flanery captures those qualities with vivid grace. Of all the fine performances in this exceptional film, his is the most dignified and triumphant.

Though aimed at the widest possible audience, POWDER's theme of the persecuted loner will strike a real emotional chord with anyone who's ever found themselves on the sidelines, watching the rest of the world go by. This is a movie which speaks loudest to the outsiders amongst us, the disenfranchised and the dispossessed. It will be warmly embraced by anyone who's ever reached out to others and been rejected... anyone who's ever felt lost and afraid, or found themselves alone in the dark... anyone who's ever believed that the world has turned its back on them because of WHO and WHAT they are... anyone who's ever stood aside from the crowd and refused to relinquish their ideals in the face of overwhelming odds... POWDER is THEIR movie, their glimmer of hope. Once seen, never forgotten.

A Vastly Underrated Hollywood Movie Einstein Would Love
Victor Salva's POWDER fuses science with religion perhaps even better than Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, because it goes to the heart of what life may be all about - that every living thing is actually an indestructible bundle of living energy, a belief held by Albert Einstein.

As Jeff Goldblum's character in the movie eloquently says to Sean Patrick Flanery's, the movie's title character a/k/a Jeremy, this was also the basis for Einstein's belief in life after death. Goldblum's monologue goes on to suggest that the almost perfect human - possibly represented by "Powder" (Jeremy) himself - would evolve through eons of love, understanding, and the 100% use of his or her brain (as opposed to the apparently less than 10% most of us are using now) to the point that he or she would no longer require the human body and would literally become the purest form of that human energy - as "Conversations with God" author Neale Donald Walsch might call it, a living flame finally prepared to interact lovingly with other living flames (not to mention God) without fear.

Goldblum further quotes Einstein later in the movie even more poignantly: "It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity." However, with its heartfelt direction by Victor Salva, superb acting by Goldblum, Flanery, Mary Steenburgen and Lance Henriksen, other-worldly photography by Jerry Zielinski, and J.S. Bach-level score by the late great Jerry Goldsmith, POWDER is proof positive that sometimes our humanity DOES surpass our technology, even in Hollywood.