Angela's Ashes (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/ Member: Online Film Critics Society
Starring Robert Carlyle, Emily Watson, Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens, Michael Legge. Directed by Alan Parker. Rated R.
Few films in 1999 have divided the critical consensus as sharply as Alan Parker's adaptation of Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes. Many dismissed it as an humorless, sentimentalized, uninteresting version of the hugely popular novel; others hailed it as a heartfelt, sincere portrait of the human spirit. I'm somewhere in between, leaning strongly towards the latter. It's certainly well-made and it never becomes tedious like some literary adaptations have a tendency to be. But I have a feeling that Parker filled the movie with pseudo-lyrical shots of rain falling on the homely streets of Ireland just so it can have the two-and-a-half hour running time that screams "I'm important!"
McCourt's book of the same name was about him and his family moving from the US to Ireland in the early 1900's, a time when most people were desperately trying to get into the US. As he comments, "we were the only Irishfolk to say goodbye to the Statue of Liberty." In Ireland, Frank (played by Joe Breen as a small child), his 3 brothers, his mother Angela (Emily Watson) and his father Malachy (Robert Carlyle) get financial help from Angela's mother, a stereotypically strict Catholic who chides her daughter for marrying a Northern Irishman.
She helps them get a rat-infested apartment and Malachy goes looking for a job. Positions are scarce and when he does finally find one, he is unable to hold on to it because of his fondness for drinking. Meanwhile, Frank goes to an uptight Catholic school, where the instructors beat students with blunt wooden objects as often as their heart desires. Two of Frank's brothers soon die, crippled by the dreadful living conditions and malnutrition. As if the poverty and the suffering weren't intense enough as it stood, Malachy and Angela have another baby, worsening the situation further.
I imagine this doesn't sound like much of a plot. That's probably because it isn't one. These are people. This is their story. Director Alan Parker (The Commitments) knows how to tell a good story and Angela's Ashes, despite its relentlessly literary tone remains interesting. Though the film occasionally indulges too much in its gloomily picturesque Irish setting, it avoids looking like a glorified travelogue.
Supplementing Parker's able direction are the engaging, often poignant performances of the leads, some of them seasoned thespians, others relative beginners. Carlyle, the charismatic British actor who has shown astonishing range by hopping from the lead in a rowdy slapstick comedy to the villain in a James Bond movie and now to sentimental melodrama, perfectly portrays his rather pathetic character. We empathize with the guy, but we don't like or admire him. Emily Watson turns in a heartfelt, sincere supporting performance. It is mostly she who implants that lump in our throats. Also worthy of mention is little Joe Breen, whose face graces the film's superb poster. It is Breen's first feature film and he's extraordinary as young Frank. Not unlike sudden Oscar darling Haley Joel Osment of The Sixth Sense, you can peer into the character's soul through Breen's sad eyes.
On the flip side, one thing that could have vastly improved Angela's Ashes is a more decisive editor. While Gerry Hambling sure makes the most of the scenery, he and Parker also leave in at least a half an hour of unnecessary footage. The first half, especially, could have been trimmed down, bringing the film to a more reasonable running time and doing our bladders a favor in the process. Things pick up at about the halfway point, sort of dismissing a lot of the criticisms I accumulated during the opening hour, but I maintain that the aggressively deliberate pace Parker and Co. set in the first half was ludicrously unnecessary.
*Spoiler Warning! Skip next paragraph if in suspense!*
The film's final message is somewhat conflicted, as Frankie, in effect, leaves his family famished in Ireland while he himself goes back to America. What, exactly, are we supposed to make of that? His mother doesn't seem to mind because she wants the best possible future for her son, as any mother would, but it still seems inconsiderate of him. I haven't read the book, but I'm sure that McCourt justifies his actions therein; therefore, I'm suspicious. Another thing that's never made clear in the movie is the meaning of the title, which, I'm sure, is also explained in the memoir.
If seen as a film onto itself, rather than an adaptation, Angela's Ashes stands tall. Despite a few minor setbacks, it is a captivating story of people forced to live in the trenches by an merciless society where those of weaker character are shoved to the bottom of the financial ladder.
Grade: B+
©2000 Eugene Novikov
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