'3 Black Chicks Review...'
The Cider House Rules (1999) Rated PG-13; running time 129 minutes Genre: Drama IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0124315 Official site: http://www.miramax.com/ Written by: John Irving Directed by: Lasse Hallstrom Starring: Tobey Maguire, Michael Caine, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Erykah Badu, Kieran Culkin, Kate Nelligan, Heavy D, K. Todd Freeman, Paz de la Huerta, Sean Andrew, Spencer Diamond, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Erik Sullivan
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamscider.html
After having sat through over three hours of fast-moving action involving characters who wouldn't "let me in" to their world in "Magnolia", it was a refreshing change of pace to sit back and relax with "The Cider House Rules". Felt like...family.
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine) is an unusual man in an unusual place during an unusual time: along with Nurse Angela (Kathy Baker) and Nurse Edna (Jane Alexander), Larch oversees a home for unwanted children--born and yet-to-be born--in St. Cloud, Maine during World War II. The abortions he performs are illegal, but in his eyes, they are necessary, considering the alternative (terribly unsafe backalley hatchet jobs). This, though, is little comfort to young Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire); along with housemates Buster (Kieran Culkin), Mary Agnes (Pas de la Huerta), Copperfield (Sean Andrew), Hazel (Skye McCole Bartusiak), Fuzzy (Erik Sullivan) and the adorable Curly (Spencer Diamond), Homer grows up as an orphan under the care of Larch and the nurses, and becomes almost as skilled as the good doctor himself. The difference, though, is that Homer objects to Larch's actions, and has no intentions on being an abortionist.
Homer's life takes a drastic change when Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd), an Air Force pilot, brings his girlfriend Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron) to St. Cloud for an abortion. When they leave, Homer goes with them, and experiences life as an apple picker in the cider mill of Wally's family, including his mother Olive (Kate Nelligan). There, he meets a band of migrant workers led by Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo), his daughter Rose Rose (Erykah Badu, in her acting debut), Peaches (Heavy D), and Muddy (K. Todd Freeman). But Homer's former life isn't quite behind him; not yet...
The Upshot: I went into "The Cider House Rules" fully prepared to be either disappointed, or put to sleep, by Yet Another art flick. I need to get rid of my jadedness; it would've done this film a disservice had I let it win out. "Cider" was like a breath of fresh air following the "work" I had to do to roll with "Magnolia" (lest ye think I'm doggin' that flick, check out my "Magnolia" review first. I'm just sayin'.) It was nice to just let this film wash over me; quite nice to let the movie be.
The flow of the movie served it well. Told almost as a bedtime story, I could easily hear the nurses reading it to the kids as a lullaby; not for sleepy-time, but instead to soothe them from the reality that not many people were (and sadly, are still not) interested in adopting them once they were no longer babies. Of course, not every aspect of the film was a peaceful as all this; the harsh reality of choosing to end a life, was a heavy burden to bear by mother and doctor alike. That the movie didn't get bogged down with the heaviness, is indicative of the quality of this film.
One would think that a flick that dealt with such a big Issue as abortion, from both sides of the fence, would come off as overly strident. One would be wrong. Though the Issue was "resolved" in the end as heavily balanced on one side over the other (you'll have to see it to know which), there was no heavy-handed pro-choice or pro-life Message involved; the real Message addressed the humanity of the characters involved.
And o, the humanity. The characters felt as natural as those you might meet in a small town in 1940's Maine whose only residents are orphans and the caretakers that look after them; the actors, likewise, fit the clothes of their roles quite well. Other than the horrible go at an American accent, I could easily believe Caine's Dr. Larch, and the compassion he had for orphans and pregnant mothers alike; the way he and the nurses made the orphans feel special without patronizing them, warmed my jaded heart. Maguire as the eagerly naive Homer, could teach Mr. DiCaprio and pals a thing or three about the importance of not being so full of your celebrity that you forget how to act; he was charming and engaging, and I look forward to seeing him in more movies. Ditto Charlize Theron; my estimation of her acting skills shot way up after this flick. In fact, I can't remember a missed-note from any of the actors or characters--including the children. Heck, especially the children; after the sour taste that "Stuart Little" left in my mouth for Cutesy Orphan Kids, I was pleasantly surprised by the easygoing performances of the young actors (and I fell in love with Spencer Diamond; I'd adopt him in a heartbeat!)
The movie took a weird turn when Homer left the orphanage for the cider mill; it wasn't exactly difficult to follow, but the motivations (so to speak) for the actions of the characters involved, weren't as clear during this part of the movie as they were in the orphanage. That said, Delroy Lindo once again knocked my socks off; I find it hard to believe that, considering what his Mr. Rose character went through, I could feel as...attached...to his character after the movie ended, as I did going in. Though Erykah Badu's movie debut drew my attention [too much, in spots; was she wearing contacts?], Lindo's powerful performance kept it.
The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]: I sometimes have to remind myself that, especially in period pieces like this, expressions of "strength" (so to speak) by Black folk, are of necessity more muted than they should be able to be in modern day movies; that is, just as one wouldn't expect John Coffey to Go Off On any of the officers in "The Green Mile", for example, one should also not expect Rose Rose to take more serious issue at Candy's charitable efforts to give her hand-me-downs.
That said, I cannot help but note this in that regard: White Privilege once again reared its ugly head when Migrant Worker Homer was eagerly, and repeatedly, invited to sup with both the Kendall and Worthington families--but Rose, who at least Candy knew for a much longer time, received no such invitation, and none seemed to be forthcoming any time soon. Excuse it away if you will, but I doubt that such excuses would go far in Rose's eyes.
Bammer's Bottom Line: A sweet story with characters that felt Real (especially after having just seen "Magnolia", which felt Otherworldly in comparison), one could almost forgive Michael Caine for his awful American accent--which gave way to his otherwise brilliantly understated performance. An additional tip o' the hat to Delroy Lindo for pulling off the seemingly impossible (no spoilers here; you'll have to see it to understand what I mean).
"The Cider House Rules": (rating: greenlight) After a year filled with Big!Event! movies (c.f. "Star Wars" The Revision), and ultra-long telethon flicks (c.f. "Magnolia"), "Cider" gets my props for being a "simple" story with heart. Y'all go.
3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava! /~\ Rose "Bams" Cooper /','\ 3BlackChicks Enterprises /','`'\ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 /',',','/`, EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com ICQ: 7760005 `~-._'c / http://www.3blackchicks.com/ `\ ( http://www.dealpilot.com/?partner=1987 /====\
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews