The Cider House Rules
***1/2
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by Buena Vista International on 24 March, 2000; certificate
12; 129 minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 2.35:1
Directed by Lasse Hallström; produced
by Richard N. Gladstein.
Written by John Irving; based upon his own novel.
Photographed by Oliver Stapleton; edited by Lisa Zeno
Churgin.
CAST.....
Tobey Maguire..... Homer Wells
Charlize Theron..... Candy Kendall
Delroy Lindo..... Arthur Rose
Paul Rudd..... Wally Worthington
Michael Caine..... Wilbur Larch
Jane Alexander..... Nurse Edna
Kathy Baker..... Nurse Angela
Erykah Badu..... Rose Rose
"The Cider House Rules", rich in
texture and Dickensian in themes, is such a skilful dance of a film that
it hops over cinema's trickiest hurdles and we hardly even notice. It makes
sentimentality enjoyable, adapts a novel without condensing it into a patronising
Hollywood formula and avoids silly speechmaking when commenting on the complex
issue of abortion.
The source material is a 1985 best seller by John
Irving, which ran eight hundred pages and covered forty years in the life
of an orphan named Homer Wells. In adapting his book to the screen, Irving
wrote a multitude of script drafts and took them to several directors; it's
taken so long he's written a book on the project itself. Miraculous, then,
that the movie has been realised at all, let alone so well.
It is set in the 1940s, and Homer (Tobey Maguire)
has grown up in a Maine orphanage, St. Cloud's. He was adopted twice as a
baby, sent back once because he didn't cry enough, and taken back on the
other occasion because one set of parents beat him. His father figure is
the dedicated Dr. Larch (Michael Caine), who is addicted to ether, and performs
abortions at a time when they are illegal, but is a good man nonetheless
-- in taking Homer under his wing, and making sure he is "of use", he has
taught the boy enough about medicine to qualify him as a skilled
surgeon.
Homer is not convinced he wants to be a doctor,
though, and has reservations about the moral validity of abortion. He would
like to see the outside world, and gets his chance when the cute young couple
of Wally (Paul Rudd) and Candy (Charlize Theron) come to St. Cloud's to get
rid of an unwanted pregnancy. Wally's family has an orchard near the ocean,
and Homer is offered a job there.
Wally gets called up to serve in World War Two,
but since Homer has a heart condition, he remains at his new home, picking
apples. He and Candy begin a love affair, which is significant because it's
a taste of normal life, and once he's sampled the joys of the real world,
Homer must face up to its grimmer realities too. When a seemingly upright
orchard worker impregnates his teenage daughter, Homer feels compelled to
intervene, as the question of abortion suddenly seems much less clear-cut.
And so does his decision to leave St. Cloud's -- perhaps Larch was right
all along, and Homer is his natural successor.
I am simplifying the story to a damaging degree;
it does make good sense, even though Irving had to compress the events of
the novel into a two-year period. The film is tighter and more focused for
it; the abortion thread is woven in with great skill, whereas in the book
it seemed a tad tacked-on. And the messages are clearer -- rules may be for
the good of humanity, but part of being truly human is knowing when to break
them; and people belong where they can do the most good.
Both works feature mature character depictions,
like that of the incestuous father, Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo). He doesn't realise
he's done anything damaging, and that's the kind of self-delusion which similar
people go through in real life. Homer, the hero of the piece, doesn't do
any grandstanding; Tobey Maguire's performance is engaging because of boyish
innocence and quiet dignity. The character was raised in an orphanage, remember,
and has learnt to reveal in his eyes alone what he feels about his wonderful
and terrible discoveries.
The movie is more obviously sincere than the novel,
which, although generally absorbing, had moments of messy wording that left
me unsure of their tone. The director, Lasse Hallström, and his
cinematographer, Oliver Stapleton, have crafted an intimate New England look
reminiscent of the third act in "The Shawshank Redemption", full of naturally
beautiful browns and greens. We can't help but be moved by all the cute little
orphans, either, and it's nice to see Jane Alexander return to the screen,
in the role of one of Larch's nurses.
This is not quite a perfect movie. It doesn't
emphasise any particular plot point as being the driving force behind the
narrative, the romance is underdeveloped and Homer's final farewell is too
brief. But generally it is an effective tearjerker, with old-fashioned pacing,
sweet violin music and an admirable social conscience. Please, sir... I want
some more.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
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