Daniel Day-Lewis cemented his reputation as one of the world’s finest actors with his stunning performance as Christy Brown, the Dubliner afflicted with cerebral palsy who overcame severe adversity to become a prolific writer and artist. Going head to head with Tom Cruise, who played quadriplegic Ron Kovic in Born on the Fourth of July, Day-Lewis came away with Oscar gold in 1989. So did Brenda Fricker for her role as Brown’s stalwart mum, who was the first to see a spark of genius in the son that most people wrote off as an idiot. Buoyed by these performances, this film is as powerful and inspiring today as it was upon its release.

The digitally remastered 1.85:1 anamorphic picture is a bit on the grainy side, but not enough to seriously distract from the story. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is sufficient for this dialogue-driven film; however, Elmer Bernstein’s score sounds a little flat.

Unfortunately, the Collector’s Series release is nothing special. There’s an oh-so-short five-minute documentary featuring footage of the real Christy Brown and a 10-minute making-of. There’s so much grist to this story and film, it’s almost unpardonable that there isn’t more material here. What we get is good, but it’s just a tease. Miramax, which produced loaded-down special editions of Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient, comes up with two left feet here.