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(FLANDERS. 2006. NOT RATED. KOCH LORBER FILMS. $26.98)

It's a shame that only film critics watch movies like this. According to at least one source, this French film made only $22,000 at the box office in the United States. What's worse, it made only about $400,000 worldwide, and that's accounting for the fact that the dollar is worth nothing against the euro these days. So no one wanted to see this thing, even the French ... and yet it's good.

Bruno Dumont is the closest thing the current cinema has to Robert Bresson. He deals in profound moral issues. But while Bresson viewed things from the lofty vantage point of a religious mystic, Dumont views his characters through a prism of utter disgust.

"Flanders" is about a farmer drafted to go to war in some unnamed Muslim country who ends up participating in atrocities. Dumont presents everything in a detached way, which will put off some people. But sit still and watch: Underneath the seeming blandness of the movie's presentation, there is a ferocious sensibility. Don't fight the movie. Release and get on its wavelength. It's probably best to watch it as if you belong to a higher species and are observing human beings with a clinical curiosity. The cinema needs artists like Dumont, and Dumont needs customers. -- MICK LASALLE

(HITLER: A CAREER. 1977. NOT RATED. FIRST RUN FEATURES. $29.95)

When this 155-minute documentary premiered in Germany in 1977, there were lines around the block to get in, but there were also critics complaining that the film made Adolf Hitler look too appealing. It doesn't. But it does show how he appealed to the German people and how he climbed to power, and that's not just interesting but also important. When people think that fascism "can't happen here," they mean that no strutting maniac with a little mustache could get control of the government. This film is a good corrective, showing that the real dangers are irrationality, anti-intellectualism, group thinking and leaders who prey on negative emotions, like fear and resentment.

Watching "Hitler: A Career," one comes away with the sense that the rise of Hitler in a cultured nation was not necessarily an anomaly but rather a response to something in the human character that, under certain circumstances, can be acted upon by a demagogue. Neither a World War II documentary nor a biography, it's somewhere in between, a study of Hitler's public life, his method of ascent, his strategies and tactics.

The film features excerpts from speeches and previously unseen film clips. One comes away with an impression of Hitler as a neurotic with a self-indulgent, indolent disposition, a modern-day Nero with artistic delusions who, even aside from being one of the most evil men who ever lived, had no business running anything. -- MICK LASALLE

(THE O.C.: THE COMPLETE SERIES. 2003-2007. NOT RATED. WARNER HOME VIDEO. $179.98. 28 DISCS)

Before its quality tailed off in later seasons, "The O.C." ruled the airwaves for its young viewers. To give an idea of its popularity, nobody referred to Orange County as "the O.C." until this series hit the big time. Aimed at the same audience segment that reveled in "Beverly Hills 90210," the show not only earned a die-hard viewership, but it also gave rise to fashion trends -- fans took style tips from its stars, including Mischa Barton and Benjamin McKenzie.

The series also exposed viewers to the music of then-little-known bands such as Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse. At heart, the show was nothing more than a prime-time soap opera. The plot: A do-gooder lawyer (Peter Gallagher) and his wife, who live in style in Newport Beach, take in a teenager (McKenzie) from a troubled background who's quite different from the pampered kids at the local high school. This set, packaged in a "keepsake" box, offers all 92 episodes on 28 discs, with a remastered Season One. Extras include commentary, deleted scenes and other material from the individual season DVD releases, plus an hour and a half of new material, including a Season Four gag reel and the featurette "The Women of 'The O.C.' " -- WALTER ADDIEGO

(TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM. 2007. NOT RATED. WARNER BROS. $29.99. FOUR DISCS)

Although four hours seems like a long time for a documentary on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Runnin' Down a Dream" doesn't seem the slightest bit fat or indulgent, and it's loaded with an astonishing amount of great music -- enough to surprise even longtime fans.

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who began his career with a highly regarded documentary about director John Ford, the film benefits immensely from extensive home-movie archives that capture the band's earliest days in intimate detail. All the principals talk -- Petty comes off as a decent, no-bull guy as amazed by his success as any of us are -- but it is the performance footage that lights up the screen.

They treat potentially delicate issues, such as the firing of longtime drummer Stan Lynch and the heroin overdose death of bassist Howie Epstein, without flinching. Perhaps because he is a down-to-earth guy, Petty may have been underrated over the years, but the sheer quantity of good music packed into the two-disc film is staggering -- from the beginnings as a band called Mudcrutch to the 2006 30th anniversary concert at Gainesville, Fla., which is included in its entirety on a third disc (a fourth disc contains an audio CD of previously unreleased nuggets from the documentary's soundtrack). "Runnin' Down a Dream" rocks so hard, the four spellbinding hours just fly by. Don't miss this. -- JOEL SELVIN

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)