The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1: DVD Review

The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1: DVD Review

Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Never has a series ignited such a cultural touch paper in the way that The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1 did.

Taken from the Margaret Attwood book and set in a dystopian future where breeding is nigh on impossible and only a select few can manage it (The Handmaids of the title), Elisabeth Moss' rightly award winning story packs a punch that will resonate deeply with many and which will hit those who don't fully appreciate it where they should.

Forced into sexual servitude, and stripped of her original name, Moss' fertile Offred tries to escape what's thrust upon her, when women's rights are removed.

The struggle is real in The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1, and it's nonetheless compelling for it.

But it's also handled with extreme care, with there being a great deal of empathy and sympathy put upon the wife of the Commander (Joseph Fiennes), played by Yvonne Strahovski. The careful execution of many points of view and spiralling dread make it almost sickening to watch, even if parts of the narrative run out of steam toward the end.

Central to it all, is Moss' Offred, a downtrodden but never beaten heroine for our times (which is ironic, given how old Attwood's clearly prescient writing was) - she remains the beacon of light that shines the darker it gets.

Credit must also go to the horrific extremes inflicted on Alexis Bledel's character also.

The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1 is a rare TV vintage, that puts everyone through the necessary gamut of emotions.