Written circa 1300 A.D., by Dante Alighieri (AKA: Dante), "The Divine Comedy" is the first major work written in Italian instead of Latin, and uses Dante himself as the main character in the literary work. It is a journey of despair, revelation, and repentance; towards ultimate salvation. The piece is otherwise referred to as a comedia; as opposed to being a tragedia. Dante was an active poet in an avant garde culture; or a very experimental, innovative time period. Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), Stasinus (son-in-law of Homer), Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus), and Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso); all were strong influences upon Dante. The philosophy, morals, and beliefs of medieval Europe from 1265 B.C. to 1300 B.C., are predominant in this masterpiece.It has been said that all of us at one point in our lives, become acquainted with our interpretation of someone who epitomizes the essence and beauty of God's love with skin on it. For Dante, that was the woman Beatrice, who plays heavily into his story.It can be noted that Dante's comedy is divided into 3 parts, as are the kingdoms of Catholic faith, regarding the afterlife - the Inferno (hell), Purgatorio (purgatory), and Paradiso (paradise).The panther of self-indulgent sin, the lion of violent sin, and the she-wolf of malicious sin are parts of the Inferno. "All hope abandon ye, who enter here" being part of what is written upon the gates of hell. Hell is given structure and definition into levels, circles, and other aspects, which categorize the experience.In purgatory, the sun represents God's light; which is the only time one can travel there. Purgatory is also divided into levels in Dante's comedy; such as anti-purgatory (last minute confessions, those who busied themselves with worldly cares, and those who would have confessed if given a chance before death robbed them of it); next, the gate keeper prepares those who pass into the next level through confession, contrition, and satisfaction. Each of the seven deadly sins requires a commensurate penance. It is here that this DVD assures us Dante's "The Divine Comedy" is not anti-religion, as some assume.Now we are guided into paradise, which has been interpreted in a spectrum of possibilities of allegorical meaning, by scholars beginning in Dante's own time period, through to this very day. Which is the purpose of including so much art, and the mention of such musical contributions as one by Franz Liszt, the Hungarian composer.As with the previous kingdoms, it remains true that paradise also is categorized into levels and rings, where the love of God emanates to all within paradise. Thirteenth and fourteenth century astronomy plays into Dante's definition for the structure of paradise.This DVD is an introduction to Dante's "The Divine Comedy" (a poem of 14,233 lines, each of eleven syllables, divided into 100 cantos; or besides the introduction, 33 cantos for each of the three categories of the afterlife experience), and this DVD should be understood as being only a primer (it does not contain or present Dante's poem in full). There are many images from centuries of art that have been influenced by Dante's comedia. Several scholars help narrate the DVD presentation, which help us understand the backgrounds and meanings of "The Divine Comedy." Whereas this DVD presentation is highly academic and likely to be a quintessentially useful tool for high schools, colleges, or universities; to the less enthusiastic or less spiritually learned, it probably will become a bit tedious and boring. In other words, if you work side by side with a reprehensible, moronic cad who spends more time maliciously conniving up torment and misery for others, giving that person this DVD as a gift will waste your time and money. It takes being concerned with the afterlife and spiritual eternity of man's existence before this movie can help you appreciate, understand, and pique your interest in Dante's "The Divine Comedy." Although, there are entire websites devoted to Dante's poem, and the comprehensive relativity of it, in case you are among the interested.Having said that, I still give this documentary style DVD a 5 star rating.