While I don’t usually review DVD releases here, I’m making an exception this week as the circumstances surrounding Rod Lurie’s Nothing but the Truth merit attention. Set for release at the end of last year, the film’s distribution company went belly up, leaving it limbo. Released only in New York and Los Angeles, in the hopes it would garner some Oscar attention, the movie never found its footing and was finally released on DVD. Having seen Truth at Ebertfest last week, it strikes me as a tragedy that a film this timely, well-made and entertaining could not be granted a national release. Movies this provocative and thought-provoking are becoming an endangered species at the multiplex, and audiences pay the price. The film deals with thorny moral questions as it centers on a reporter (Kate Beckinsale) who runs an explosive story criticizing the president and comes under fire to name her source.

When she refuses, an overzealous special prosecutor (Matt Dillon) moves to have her jailed for contempt. While incarcerated, she holds fast to her beliefs, even though her marriage crumbles, she becomes alienated from her young son and her own lawyer (Alan Alda) begins to question her actions.

The foundation of the film is Lurie’s intelligent script, which refuses to cast any of these people as a villain and is able to make us understand, if not sympathize with the motivation of each character. Sharp dialogue, impassioned performances and moral quandaries that will prompt lengthy, meaty discussions are all present in Truth, making it one of the best films of 2008 that no one has seen.