A deeply powerful and emotional film, Warner Bros. brings Clara's Heart to Blu-ray for the first time in their Warner Archive Collection!
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided us with a free copy of this Blu-ray/DVD that we reviewed in this blog post. The opinions we share are our own.
“David Hart (Neil Patrick Harris) is a preteen as disillusioned as a 40-year-old and as vulnerable as a 5-year-old. The death of his baby sister and his parents’ subsequent separation have left him despairing and lonely. But he’s about to discover all the love he needs in Clara’s Heart.
Whoopi Goldberg recaptures the triumph and joy of her award-winning portrayal of Celie in The Color Purple, starring as savvy Jamaican housekeeper Clara Mayfield. When Clara first enters the Harts’ luxurious suburban Baltimore home, David views her as an interloper and a threat. But Clara’s unshakable dignity and bounteous humor act like sunshine on the tight bud of David’s soul.”
Clara’s Heart opens very sadly with the death of Leona Heart’s (Kathleen Quinlan) newborn daughter. Distraught and disconnected with reality, her and her husband Bill (Michael Ontkean) take a vacation to get away from their life and grieve in their own ways, leaving their son David at their home in Baltimore. In her emotional state, Leona meets Clara Mayfield, who’s nurturing attitude and strength help bring her back from the brink. Clara returns to Baltimore with the Hart family to help around the house. Initially, David sees Clara as a threat, an excuse for his parents to pass off parenting yet again to someone else. Though Clara’s outspoken attitude clashes with Bill, her independence intrigues David, as well as her mysterious past that she hides from everyone and never talks about.
Clara’s Heart is such a heartbreaking story on so many levels, exploring the dysfunctional family dynamic focusing on the emotional stress of an only child during a tumultuous time in his parent’s relationship. We slowly learn of the love lost between them, and the sudden loss of their newborn the catalyst for an inevitable end with David stuck in the middle. The lack of compassion these parents show their only child is simply unbelievable, as David struggles with confidence, identity, feeling unloved and unwanted. It’s an unfortunate situation that happens frequently, unfortunately: two people thinking a child will ignite a once passionate flame, but end up resenting each other and shutting off emotionally. David has no escape from this, until Clara enters his life and shows him what it means to care about someone, and have someone care for him.
David is an outsider in more ways than one, a stranger to Clara, whom his mother has pawned him off on while she travels with her new boyfriend, as well as a stranger to her Jamaican culture, which he embraces whole heartedly in order to feel like he belongs. Clara acts as a mother and a guide in his adolescence, teaching him valuable lessons along the way. But Clara has a heartbreaking secret of her own, something that really packs a punch in one of the emotional climaxes of the film, showing just how much emotional depth this film has.
Although quite goofy looking at this age, Neil Patrick Harris has exceptional range while being so young. He is able to express a wide array of emotion in the film, both heartbreaking and funny. You really feel everything David feels, sad at the distance between him and his parents, and if you grew up in a broken home yourself, something that may hit a bit closer than you might think. I’ve seen Whoopi Goldberg in a lot of things, but this film ranks as one of her better performances for me. She’s caring and strong on the surface, and has to be for others, but carries a deep and tragic secret that would destroy any other person. She carries such a strong presence in the film and I was entirely invested in the relationship between her character and David.
Video
Clara’s Heart is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1. This Warner Archive Collection print looks to be in decent shape. It doesn’t appear that any new scan was used, but for a lesser known film from 1988 it doesn’t look half bad. Grain is kept at a manageable level, the film is fairly detailed although there are moments of softness at times. Overall, a nice addition to the format.
Audio
The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Not the greatest of tracks, but as far as a film that features mostly dialogue and score goes, it does its job. The score sounds great, a very emotional accompaniment to a great story.
Special Features
Unfortunately, there are no extras on this disc.
Clara’s Heart is a very powerful film that definitely took me by surprise. Featuring some great performances by baby Neil Patrick Harris and Whoopi Goldberg, this is a great inclusion into the Warner Archive Collection that might have otherwise never seen a high definition release.
