Advantages: Funny in bits, detailed Disadvantages: Can leave you feeling a bit upset
I first watched Angela's Ashes a few months back in History. I fell in love with it straight away, and is now one of my favourite films. But, why...?
*****
Angela's Ashes is based on the book written by Frank McCourt, made in 1999. It is the story of McCourt's life as a child, followed right through until his early adult life. The director, Alan Parker, helps us connect with the characters and sets across a very clear yet important message.
In the 1930s, when he was just a small boy, McCourt and his family (mum, dad and two brothers) were forced to move back to Ireland. Here his mum gave birth to another little girl, who soon sadly died a little while after because of the terrible living conditions.
Life was in no way easy in Ireland. This was the time when many illnesses were going around, such as cholera and typhoid. Sadly, the Mc ...
Advantages: creepy, good sound Disadvantages: slow
time goes on they come to realise that not all is as it seems in this innocuous looking shelter and they soon begin to think that staying there may not have been a good idea.
Dead Birds was recommended to me a little while ago and I decided to rent it out to see what it was like. And whilst its title is misleading I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the film, it is by no means perfect but it is far from being a complete lemon. On one side the film is fairly original in that it is set during the American Civil War, and in that whole setup looked good to me, the uniforms and the war-weary look in the people's faces all went to create a world that seemed believable and convincing, (to me at least). But it also follows standard genre conventions in that we have a creepy house, complete with a large cornfield that is spooky by ...
Advantages: Very readable, heartwarming, amusing, a page-turner, not at all self-pitying Disadvantages: None
The late, ex-schoolteacher Frank McCourt had an amazing, humorous and very down to earth way of writing. It feels in the book Angela's Ashes, as if he is talking to you personally.
This is a journey of a poverty-stricken childhood, that begins in one of the poorer areas of New York, then moves down into the dark "lanes" of Limerick, Ireland, during the depression years of the 1930s. Though Frank's childhood was filled with despair, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illness, and was spent in a slum dwelling of the very worst kind, nowhere does Frank bemoan his unfortunate start in life or feel he has an axe to grind. From page one through to the end of the book, Frank tells his tale with a wry humour, and his childhood oscillations from vulnerability to tough kid and back again, are a delight to read.
What for me shines through ...
