"Angela´s Ashes" [Parker 1999] - movie review

Based on an autobiography by Frank McCourt, Angela´s Ashes takes us to a childhood experience of poor catholic Ireland in the first half of the twentieth century. Frankie is born in the USA, but his family moves back to Ireland and during his hardships growing up in this sick society, his dream of sailing back to USA grows within him.

The cinematography is solid, the acting is fine, except maybe the actor playing the father. He looks a bit too middle-classy, to be one who spends the days wage down at the pub. And the parents clothes looks a bit too nice for their level of poverty. The supporting actors are great and everything seems to be fine. It is just boring. You never really get to know either of the characters, primarily because of the time scope of the story. But also because it has to embrace it all and then never gets to show anything particularly deep and involving. And then there is the last part of how he gets the money to go to America. The old moneylender he delivers letters for dies. Then he steals the money from her purse and her stash under her bed. He takes her accounting book down to the river and throws it in saying "They all owed the old bitch money ... well, not any more". The old lady actually helped the neighborhood by lending them money and now she is the villain? They did it voluntarily. And he has just stolen stacks of money from her to finance his wet dream of crossing the Atlantic. Have i sat here watching this movie for a good two hours, supposed to get sympathy for this kid, and then he steals the money from a dead old lady ??? What a marxist asshole.

A problem at the heart of this movie, and one that always comes with adaptations of this type of autobiography, is whether to go by the book or pick and choose. I have not read the book, but judging from the film, Parker chose to go by the book and that rarely ends up as a great movie. There are three different aged boys who plays the main character and when you have gotten used to one, the next takes over. It may just be me, but it destroys the sense of flow in the film for me. It also spends a lot of time, bringing you much of the family daily life details, which are not that interesting. If you have never heard about prewar Ireland before, i guess it is interesting, but it just throws the old cliches at you. And the narrator tries his best to deliver it with a bit of Irish humor, but rarely succeeds. And does it really rain 9 out of 10 days in Ireland?

This is one of those "perfect" movies that looks good on paper, on the poster, in the reviews and so on. But it lacks the most important ingredient. A purpose. Why do i need to see this story? I know about he Irish society, the poverty and the emigration to America and so on. What is the purpose? There is not any really!

Rating: 4/10