IMDb > Angela's Ashes (1999)
Angela's Ashes
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Angela's Ashes (1999) More at IMDbPro »

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Angela's Ashes -- Open-ended Trailer from Paramount
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Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   10,166 votes »
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Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Frank McCourt (book)
Laura Jones (screenplay) and
Alan Parker (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Angela's Ashes on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 January 2000 (USA) See more »
Genre:
Tagline:
The Hopes of a Mother. The Dreams of a Father. The Fate of a Child.
Plot:
Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences... See more » | Add synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 10 nominations See more »
User Reviews:
Moving drama See more (154 total) »

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Emily Watson ... Angela McCourt

Robert Carlyle ... Malachy (Dad)
Joe Breen ... Young Frank
Ciaran Owens ... Middle Frank
Michael Legge ... Older Frank
Ronnie Masterson ... Grandma Sheehan
Pauline McLynn ... Aunt Aggie
Liam Carney ... Uncle Pa Keating
Eanna MacLiam ... Uncle Pat
Andrew Bennett ... Narrator (voice)
Shane Murray-Corcoran ... Young Malachy
Devon Murray ... Middle Malachy

Peter Halpin ... Older Malachy
Aaron Geraghty ... New Born Michael
Sean Carney Daly ... Baby Michael
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
MPAA:
Rated R for sexual content and some language.
Runtime:
145 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Poster and book cover by Bill Kaye.See more »
Goofs:
Factual errors: Frank changes stations on his neighbor's radio using the volume knob.See more »
Quotes:
Angela McCourt:Don't let anyone ever slam the door on you again. Do you hear me?
Older Frank:I do.
See more »
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
Three BabiesSee more »

FAQ

What is consumption?
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
Is "Angela's Ashes" based on a book?
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31 out of 35 people found the following review useful.
Moving drama, 22 July 2000
Author: Roland E. Zwick (magneteach@aol.com) from United States

In the very opening scene of Alan Parker's `Angela's Ashes,' we are informed by the narrator and main character, Frankie McCourt, in a phrase that turns out to be a masterpiece of understatement, that he had a `miserable childhood' – but just how miserable we may not be quite adequately prepared to see. Based on the author's Pulitzer Prize winning autobiographical memoir, this compelling film plunges us directly into the wretchedness and squalor of life in Depression-ridden Ireland, a setting overflowing with disease, starvation, joblessness and despair. Indeed, by the time the film has hit the 25-minute mark, we have already witnessed the deaths of no fewer than three of Frankie's little siblings. The film, like the novel on which it is based, never flinches from portraying the brutal reality of the life the people of this dreary town must endure.

Yet, the film is also, at times, rich in humor and a sense of that unquenchable optimism that somehow exists in even the most hopeless of circumstances. Frankie, despite the harsh conditions of his life, remains a boy focused on the good things that come his way, enduring even a loving but utterly irresponsible ne'er-do-well father (beautifully played by `The Full Monty's Robert Carlyle) with an indulgence and tolerance borne of filial devotion. As Frankie grows from young boy, dutifully fulfilling the parental role for his younger brothers, to a man verging on the edge of adulthood, he feeds on his dreams of moving to America to start a new life full of hope and promise. The people and situations he encounters on this road create a stunning tapestry of life, teeming with bitterness and coldness it is true, but also with occasional, albeit momentary, displays of warmth, kindness and compassion – whether they be from a seemingly bitter aunt who, much to his astonishment, buys Frankie a brand new set of clothes in which to start his new job, a teacher who inspires him to see life beyond the circumscribed limits of this dreary Irish town or a compassionate priest who counsels Frankie in a moment of dark despair. These help to counterbalance the deadening effects of his father's thoughtlessness and drunkenness, the death of his first love by consumption, the often brutal treatment he receives at the hands of both his teachers and fellow classmates. And all the while there stands his mother, the anchor that holds him firmly in place, a woman beaten down by poverty, the untimely deaths of her children, the fecklessness of her otherwise loving husband - yet a woman so full of the quality of stoic self-sacrifice that it is from she that Frankie draws the strength he needs to move on in his life.

Emily Watson provides a luminous portrait of this woman, triumphantly conveying the longsuffering reserve that helps shield her from the ugliness and dreariness of her life and provides her with the strength to carry on and build into her children a sense of moral rectitude. And the three boys who portray Frankie at various stages of the drama are utterly perfect in their wide-eyed naturalism, as they look upon a world often incomprehensible in its drabness and cruelty.

It seems to be becoming a truism lately that, if you want to see the bleakest portrayal of life imaginable, go to see a film set in Ireland. Nowhere does the sun shine less frequently, nowhere do the drab colors of gray and brown so heavily predominate, nowhere does poverty seem so all encompassing and inescapable. The Ireland of `Angela's Ashes' is surely no exception. The filmmakers, moreover, cast a scathing eye on the mindless superstition, bigotry and hypocrisy to be found in much of the blindly pro-Southern Ireland, anti-Protestant, anti-British, anti-Northern Ireland attitude perpetuated by the Catholic Church there in the 1930's. Thus, in the depths of McCourt's autobiographical story, lies a diatribe with its roots planted deep in political and social protest. Yet, because of our fascination with the boy at the center of the narrative, these qualities filter through subtly, never dominating the proceedings. `Angela's Ashes' is rather, from beginning to end, a moving story about goodhearted, ordinary people learning to cope with the immense hardships life throws their way. In the long run, it certainly makes one happier with one's own lot in life. `Angela's Ashes,' for those who can take its uncompromising view of reality, is a richly rewarding experience.

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gr8 movie thedolon
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Toast. MadxHatter
angelas red coat? bherath
Was his Dad really in the IRA? AardvarkRatnik
Why do they hate people from the North? sweet-karan
What's with pouring buckets of water in front of the hearse? mr-chris-newman
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