Walker (Criterion) 04/22 Blu-ray (Rental)

A hallucinatory biopic that breaks all cinematic conventions, Walker, from British director Alex Cox, tells the story of nineteenth-century American adventurer William Walker (Ed Harris), who abandoned a series of careers in law, politics, journalism, and medicine to become a soldier of fortune and, for many months, the dictator of Nicaragua. Made with mad abandon and political acuity—and the support of the Sandinista army and government during the contra war—the film uses this true tale as a satirical attack on American ultrapatriotism and a freewheeling condemnation of “manifest destiny.” Featuring a powerful score by Joe Strummer and a performance of intense, repressed rage by Harris, Walker remains one of Cox’s most daring works. DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Alex Cox, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary by Cox and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer Dispatches from Nicaragua, a documentary about the filming of Walker On Moviemaking and the Revolution, reminiscences about the production twenty years later from an extra on the film Walker 2008 and On the Origins of “Walker” (2016), two short films by Cox Behind-the-scenes photos Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: Essays by film critic Graham Fuller, Wurlitzer, and actor Linda Sandoval