I was given the book "Angela's Ashes" as a gift because I have an Irish background that goes way back. There were many funny incidents which made me laugh out loud, but as I read on, I found it depressing. The movie was now available in video because it wasn't a success at the box office, so I stopped reading the book, and watched the movie. It was a struggle for me to sit and watch it to the end. I found it very depressing ...just like the book.
I was once told by an Irish friend that being a Catholic schoolchild in Ireland was more difficult than being one in any other part of the world. Even worse if you were a young married mother not producing children ... the priests would insist on a doctor's visit for both the husband and wife, to find out the reason why. This movie came close to my friend's stories. Frank McCourt certainly has to be admired for winning the Pulitzer Prize for writing his memoirs. It is amazing how he survived the squalor as a young boy to achieve a coveted award like this. It's hard to imagine any actor wanting a part in a movie of this nature, short of having a "strong Cause" in relation to it. However, all the actors were excellent from the children to Robert Carlyle and Emily Watson. I don't think Carlyle found his Irish accent hard to master due to it being close to his own Scottish tongue.
In today's world where we all want more, watching this movie can certainly make you feel very rich indeed, but it's not the happiest of movies to watch for entertainment. I can see this movie being used for teaching purposes. I think this would be the only way you could get teenagers to watch it ...while trapped in their seats at school.
The school teachers in this movie were tyrannical, bar one who doesn't see much hope for his clever students and advises them to leave Ireland.
When I was a schoolgirl in a Catholic school in Scotland, I remember children from an Irish family being taunted because they were wearing uniforms from the Parish. Clothes which were so easy to recognize ... not as fine as those bought in the stores. Watching the McCourt boys being taunted about the boots they were wearing brought this to mind ...how cruel children can be. Although I attended a very good school, I was disillusioned by Catholicism and couldn't wait to grow up and leave, and haven't had any regrets in doing so.
None of us can choose when to be born, but I'll guarantee anyone who watches "Angela's Ashes" will be thankful to God, or "whoever" (?) that their childhood wasn't like Frank McCourt's.
I was once told by an Irish friend that being a Catholic schoolchild in Ireland was more difficult than being one in any other part of the world. Even worse if you were a young married mother not producing children ... the priests would insist on a doctor's visit for both the husband and wife, to find out the reason why. This movie came close to my friend's stories. Frank McCourt certainly has to be admired for winning the Pulitzer Prize for writing his memoirs. It is amazing how he survived the squalor as a young boy to achieve a coveted award like this. It's hard to imagine any actor wanting a part in a movie of this nature, short of having a "strong Cause" in relation to it. However, all the actors were excellent from the children to Robert Carlyle and Emily Watson. I don't think Carlyle found his Irish accent hard to master due to it being close to his own Scottish tongue.
In today's world where we all want more, watching this movie can certainly make you feel very rich indeed, but it's not the happiest of movies to watch for entertainment. I can see this movie being used for teaching purposes. I think this would be the only way you could get teenagers to watch it ...while trapped in their seats at school.
The school teachers in this movie were tyrannical, bar one who doesn't see much hope for his clever students and advises them to leave Ireland.
When I was a schoolgirl in a Catholic school in Scotland, I remember children from an Irish family being taunted because they were wearing uniforms from the Parish. Clothes which were so easy to recognize ... not as fine as those bought in the stores. Watching the McCourt boys being taunted about the boots they were wearing brought this to mind ...how cruel children can be. Although I attended a very good school, I was disillusioned by Catholicism and couldn't wait to grow up and leave, and haven't had any regrets in doing so.
None of us can choose when to be born, but I'll guarantee anyone who watches "Angela's Ashes" will be thankful to God, or "whoever" (?) that their childhood wasn't like Frank McCourt's.