Good news: the DVD is also region free! The actual disc has region 1 stamped on it, but I've tried it on two different R4 players, and it worked both times! (much to my pleasant surprise)
5.5cm on both sides. I watched it on my lounge room TV which is 105cm diagonally or 92cm(W) x 52cm(H). This evening I watched it again on our bedroom TV which is 56cm diagonally, or 50cm(W) x 27cm(H); the funny thing is, I got perfect letterbox on that TV! So it may very well be related to the TV setting or screen size. The thing is, all other movies that I play on our lounge room TV has perfect letterbox. <shrugs> Maybe I need to play around with the settings or something.
The reading speed's not an issue, it's just that so much of the text is missing. But maybe it's because it's on a second line which has been cropped off.