by Yazmin Ghonaim

ANGELA'S ASHES Alan Parker (1999) Angela's Ashes, directed by Alan Parker and based on the novel by Frank McCourt, is a film about a family's struggle to survive the consuming condition of extreme poverty. Set in 1935, Angela's Ashes follows the difficult lives of Angela McCourt (Emily Watson), her husband Malachy McCourt (Robert Carlyle) and their four children. After the hope-shattering death of the couple's fifth child, a 7-week-old girl, the family abandons its frustrated life in New York and returns to its poverty-stricken Limerick, Ireland. Angela's Ashes first introduces the obvious disadvantages, such as hunger and sickness, and soon reveals the more complex issues of unemployment, alcoholism and intolerance. Misfortune is accentuated by Angela's hostile Catholic family (who regrets her marriage to the Protestant from Belfast), by Malachy's inability to keep a job, and by the constant humiliation of relying on charity. Alongside this grim panorama, Angela's Ashes invites a subtle optimism that grows alongside the character of Frank McCourt, the oldest son, and follows him throughout three different stages, from childhood to adolescence (played in chronological order by Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens and Michael Legge). During this journey of self-preservation, self-discovery and self-determination, Frank McCourt learns about hope, independence and freedom. In contrast to the realistic representation of the oppressive powers of poverty (a representation which is made possible by the careful avoidance of overly melodramatic performances in spite of the highly dramatic scenarios), Angela's Ashes loses some ground to an idealized resolution of the protagonist's afflictions.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Acting, Casting, Set Design, Music Angela's Ashes Movie Review © 2000 Cinephiles - All rights reserved Photo © 1999 Paramount Pictures and Polygram Holdings, Inc.