I don't know why when I saw Alan Parker's film, Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" in the cinema, I was disappointed. I have changed my mind.
McCourt's book is a Masterpiece of writing about his miserable Irish childhood made worse by the strictures of the Catholic Church that did previous little to help the masses stuck in abject poverty. Alan Parker brings this vision to the screen unflinchingly. His teachers weren't much better except for the few who treated the kids with dignity and gave them the best advice, "get the hell out of Ireland, just as soon as you can."
Maybe my disappointment came from Liam Neeson not playing the lead character of the alcoholic father. Robert Carlyle does a fine job as does Emily Watson (always excellent) as the mother. All the kids are great too. The film is an artistic triumph in cinematography. Beautiful too watch even though the scenes are heart wrenching.
Frankie survives typhoid fever and even though he was on death's door being taken care of in a warm clean bed, bathed and fed must have been heaven for him.
The suffering these poor people endured living in the lane, the poverty, the filth, the predjudices are crushing. There are some light moments and some light at the end of the tunnel. Frank learns to live by his wits. They serve him well and gets him his freedom to America and in his way saves the lane from their crushing debts with one courageous fling in a waterfall.
This is a solid film but not one for the squeamish.
McCourt's book is a Masterpiece of writing about his miserable Irish childhood made worse by the strictures of the Catholic Church that did previous little to help the masses stuck in abject poverty. Alan Parker brings this vision to the screen unflinchingly. His teachers weren't much better except for the few who treated the kids with dignity and gave them the best advice, "get the hell out of Ireland, just as soon as you can."
Maybe my disappointment came from Liam Neeson not playing the lead character of the alcoholic father. Robert Carlyle does a fine job as does Emily Watson (always excellent) as the mother. All the kids are great too. The film is an artistic triumph in cinematography. Beautiful too watch even though the scenes are heart wrenching.
Frankie survives typhoid fever and even though he was on death's door being taken care of in a warm clean bed, bathed and fed must have been heaven for him.
The suffering these poor people endured living in the lane, the poverty, the filth, the predjudices are crushing. There are some light moments and some light at the end of the tunnel. Frank learns to live by his wits. They serve him well and gets him his freedom to America and in his way saves the lane from their crushing debts with one courageous fling in a waterfall.
This is a solid film but not one for the squeamish.
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