Review by Jim Chastain II
Norman Transcript

Picture Perfect?

In advertisements for Angela's Ashes (Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures), Frank McCourt, who penned the beloved Pulitzer Prize winning memoir of his unsettling Irish childhood, states, "Angela's Ashes is the perfect realization of my book on film. It is everything I could have hoped for and imagined. I sing its praises." That is high praise indeed. The question, however, is whether McCourt is correct. Is Angela's Ashes the "perfect realization" of McCourt's book on film?

Maybe. And maybe not. If the overall goal is simply to recreate the book on film, then the film version of Angela's Ashes is in my opinion, quite successful. Almost all of the film is taken directly from scenes in the book. Very few of the book's characters are omitted from the film, and many, if not most, of the book's most memorable action scenes are recreated just as we envisioned them.

And yet maybe the goal should not be to painstakingly recreate the best moments from a five hundred or so page book in a two and a half hour film. By so doing, you inevitably get a series of significant moments from the book, but it's anybody's guess whether those moments will adequately develop the main characters.

I think Angela's Ashes suffers a little bit from this problem. In its attempt to cover so much of the book, we miss a lot of the significant, yet quieter, moments. For example, we see less of Frankie's responsibility for the care of his siblings. We see less of Angela's ever-progressing despair and loneliness. We see less of the non-stop hunger. And we see less of the unexplainable actions of an adult from the eyes of a child. As a result, I think Angela (Emily Watson) comes across a little less sympathetic than she did in the book, and her despicable husband (Robert Carlyle) seems much less despicable. Furthermore, some of young Frankie's actions seem less justifiable or reasonable without a clear understanding of his motivations.

Perhaps, then, the real goal should be to painstakingly recreate the characters from the book, without rigid affiliation to a particular moment. If this is the ultimate goal, then in my opinion Angela's Ashes is somewhat less successful, for the same reasons mentioned above. This is especially true for those who have never read the book.

Don't get me wrong. This is still a good film. Few other films have had the courage to tell a tale of childhood hopelessness so honestly, because, quite frankly, many people don't want to see a "downer" film. With Angela's Ashes, this "downer" label is almost unavoidable. The streets of Ireland are even more horrible than we ever imagined, and the continuous rain showers spread a depressing gloom over the town like butter from a butter knife. If you think you might want to see this film, get prepared for a lot of death, vomiting, excrement, disgusting living conditions, and religious criticism. But along this journey of despair, you will see a lot of hysterical moments and poignant observations. And you may gain a greater appreciation for the world in which we live, and the spirit it takes to rise above a desperate situation.

RATING: B

© 2000 Jim Chastain II