Alive Inside Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Alive Inside Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 18, 2014

Some of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had in my life as a performing musician have been my visits to retirement homes, where residents are often suffering from maladies like Alzheimer’s Disease or the after effects of debilitating strokes. Some of these elders haven’t spoken a rational (or at least an understandable) word in years, but when I sit down at the piano and begin playing a famous song from their more youthful days, they are suddenly able to sing along, often in pure, clear voices that betray the withered shells that contain them. While not solely devoted to such people, Alive Inside makes the perhaps obvious case that music doesn’t just have “charms to soothe a savage breast,” but an undeniable healing aspect that might be better utilized by the bean counters who regularly dole out more traditional health care options.

Alive Inside is a somewhat bittersweet experience, for many of the elders depicted have been frankly ravaged by time or in some cases debilitating issues like schizophrenia. However, the music that good samaritan and healing music enthusiast Dan Cohen brings to these folks often results in seeming miracles. The irony of an overpriced health care system doing little while the relative ease with which providing music to those in distress offers older folks at least some kind of palliative is not lost on director Michael Rossato-Bennett, though the documentary is more of a “you are there” window rather than a political screed.

Alive Inside Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alive Inside is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of City Drive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is resolutely verité fare, and therefore doesn't ever really pop in any traditional "high def" way, though the image is clear and stable with accurate looking colors. There are occasional quality differences in various segments that might be due to different shooting conditions or even cameras. Aside from some occasional banding that can occur in things like harsh fluorescent lighting, there are no artifacts of any major import.

Alive Inside Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Alive Inside obviously features a lot of music, but it's not limited solely to the recorded tunes Cohen hands out to various elders. There's a very appealing underscore by Itaal Shur which receives a much more generously spacious accounting in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 option than in the LPCM 2.0 iteration. (The complete soundtrack is included as a supplement on this Blu-ray.) Otherwise, these mixes offer little real difference, aside from occasional elements like ambient environmental effects which creep into the various sequences. Fidelity is excellent and there are no issues of any kind to report.

Alive Inside Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 35:29)


• Ask Dan Cohen (1080p; 13:36)


• Michael Rossato-Bennett Interview (1080p; 19:00)


• Alive Inside Soundtrack (1080p; 30:43)


• Trailer (1080p; 2:16)


• Director's Commentary

Alive Inside Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Many of us are dealing with either parents or grandparents who are in retirement communities or nursing homes, and for those who are, Alive Inside is a rather provocative examination of how something so apparently simple as music can make such a major difference in peoples' lives. Heartfelt and profound in its own way, Alive Inside is a very worthwhile documentary and comes Highly recommended.