Stream it now Angela's Ashes 1999

 

A very moving film a long with brilliance and a film that is told as is.

Sheer Brilliance Is behind This film A Poor mother Keeps loosing her childern to death From The poor living conditions.. Her husbans is a drunken bum and would rather Dround himself in spirits at the pub than provide food or heat to his family .. To see him drinking over his dead child's wooden box made me feel sick ..Sad sad Account of how things are when you are extreamly poor..,

"Angela's ashes" features excellent performances, and a moving material that is told with high realism and depth.

A deep, cold, bleek film. The Film has some very terrific performances in it but it really doesn't appeal. I think that director Alan Parker tried to make the film way too dark. and in the end it just turned out to be a sad depressing movie. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good film but it is the kind of film that you don't want to have at video night with your girlfriend. Emily Watson was really amazing in every way but the narrtion of the film was the best part of the film. Robert Carlyle is always amazing at anything he does, but even he couldn't bring some light on this film.

It is a movie that is both a drama and a tragedy, and I think Emily Watson gives a superb performance. I read the books (all of them) and it was a pretty good adaptation. Two thumbs up!

Angela's Ashes is incredibly sad, but at times it seems too sad to get any entertainment. Those that cannot watch a sad film without crying should avoid this, but film lovers will be pleasantly surprised.

A great Film Adaption from a Great Book about the Childhood in the poor and hopeless Ireland of the Past with a Great Robert Carlyle as Drunken Father

An Irish childhood can clearly be a real bummer. Horrible and depressing. You'll get no argument from me there; my second-grade teacher was from Ireland herself. She told stories that would curl good middle class American kids' hair. (Then again, that didn't take much--"No refrigerator!") That being said, I must wholeheartedly disagree with Frank McCourt's statement at the beginning of the film that an Irish childhood is the worst kind of childhood of all. Even a poor Irish childhood. I mean, there were organizations in place to help his family, even if they weren't exactly kind about it. He never had to spend his days picking for valuables in a giant dump. Picking coal off the streets, sure. And it is true that he lost several siblings, and his father took off, and things were no fun for him. But the worst possible childhood? Yeah, I'm calling shenanigans.

Frank McCourt (Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens, and Michael Legge) was born in Brooklyn. His father, Malachy (Robert Carlyle) has no luck at providing for his family, and so they return to Limerick, to the family of his wife, Angela (Emily Watson). However, Malachy's ill luck follows them there. They lost a daughter in America just days after her birth; they lose more children in Limerick. Her family is willing to provide only limited help, on the principle that Malachy should be working to support his own family. Malachy has trouble finding work, and when he does find it, he drinks the wages away. He drinks the dole money away. He goes to England for work, and he doesn't send any money home. So young Frank must work to help support the family himself.

This was a very long movie. I won't go so far as to say it felt as though it was filmed in real time, but it was one of those movies where it felt every bit as long as it was--and it clocks in at 145 minutes. I think there are several scenes that could have been trimmed without losing anything to the story. A lot of the drinking scenes just felt as though they were driving the point into the ground. We get it--the father drinks, and it's bad for the family. A lot of the school scenes felt redundant. The coal-delivering scenes went on a bit long. Perhaps it was all intended to show the mindless misery of the family's life; that wouldn't surprise me. But I think we got that pretty well without the repetition.

I will say that it was lovely. The filming was quite good, although some of the transitions from one actor playing Frank to another were a bit jarring, and the speed of the lunar eclispse at the end was just silly. Also, the light level on the street went from pitch black to way brighter than I've ever seen the Moon light anything. But that aside, I think the film managed to capture the grim nature of the people's lives without being totally dreary. These all looked liked places where people lived. It was clear that the people in these homes and schools didn't have any money--except, of course, the lovely Theresa (Kerry Condon), who was clearly better off than the others in the story. After all, her family can afford to give shilling tips to mailboys.

The book, of course, was wildly successful, and I know people who read it for class. I did not; I was not in that particular class, much though I wanted to be. (I am glad for some of what I did instead, but never mind.) I haven't read the book even yet. It's not particularly high on my list, and it's lower now. It's the sort of movie where I feel obligated to have seen it, especially since I haven't read the book, but I do not by any stretch want anyone else to feel obligated.

Angela's Ashes, with its unflinching look at 1930s style poverty in Ireland slums, can be a bit thick in its constant levels of tragedy, but even so it retains a sense of realistic humanity in all its sordid dealings with the weakness of society. It played a bit long if it was merely trying to illustrate the point, but ironically it ends up ending rather abruptly.

Angela's Ashes is a film very closely based upon the book of the same title by Frank McCourt. Having read that book, as well as the sequel, "tis", both of which I would say were excellent books, I went into the film assuming that things would be butchered, as is usually the case with these things-(which is why I have yet to see the DaVinci Code...)
I am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised, as the film was excellent.
I can see that the story might not be everyone's cuppa tea-it is sad and very gloomy-but that is what this story is all about. The visuals were amazing-the whole thing looked and felt cold, grey and damp, which coupled with the story oh so well. The acting was superb, and the camerawork wasn't too fancy to pull you out of the story and the time it was set in.
I have never known real poverty, nor have I ever been to Ireland, but after watching this film, I have a new appreciation for both.
I can't quite get why this film is rated so low on the tomato-ometer at 52%-it is certainly worthy of a much better rating in my opinion-but don't trust my opinion, see it for yourself, or give the books go. You won't be disappointed.