Angela (1977)

A war vet finds out that a former prostitute had his baby. Doubting it's his, he gives it away, so she reports him. Twenty years later, she still wants to find her son. She meets a young man and falls in love, but the vet's prison term ends.

Director:

Boris Sagal

Writer:

Charles E. Israel

Stars:

Sophia Loren, Steve Railsback, John Huston

Cast

Cast overview:
Sophia Loren	...	Angela Kincaid
Steve Railsback	...	Jean Lebrecque
John Huston	...	Hogan
John Vernon	...	Ben Kincaid
Michelle Rossignol	...	Coco
Luce Guilbeault	...	Marie Lebrecque
Jean Lapointe	...	Mr. Lebrecque
John Boylan	...	Sean
Andrée Cousineau	...	Susan
Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Yvon Dufour

Storyline

Angela, a prostitute has decided to become a waitress after she gets pregnant by Ben and needs a better way to support her baby. When Ben gets back from service in the Korean War, he does not believe the little boy is his, and after he starts working for his old mob boss, he says he cannot continue as long as the boy is in the house. So his boss Hogan has the child kidnapped, which triggers Angela to seek revenge, and she informs the police about Ben's planned robbery. He is caught and goes to jail for more than two decades, and when he gets out, his only goal is to get even. Meanwhile, she has worked her way up to the ownership of an elegant restaurant and has fallen in love with handsome young Jean, who delivers meat to the kitchen -- without either knowing at the time that they are mother and son.

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Plot Keywords:

accidental incest | character name as title | one word title | forename as title | prostitute | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Canada USA Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jocasta

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Braun Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Great adaption of Oedipus

This film is quite a good adaption of Oedpipus.

I just happened to see the review by IMDb user "parkerr86302." Parker's review shows how people who don't know basic cultural history and don't have any exposure to the classics can be frustrated by the basic human themes. Note he writes: " This also makes the screenwriter's climactic punishment of them despicable and obscene. Why should they be punished for something they know nothing about?" That is exactly the point. Oedipus' sin is not one of knowledge. It is one of commission without knowledge. For the ancient Greeks these sins were not mitigated by ignorance. Oedipus and Jocasta were not spared due to their ignorance of their familial relationship and ancient audiences would not have seen them as innocent. Terrible things are happening to Thebes due to their sin regardless of the fact that they did not know if it.

One cannot apply modern western Christian ideas of innocence from ignorance of sin to the mores of the Oedipus myth.

Once you understand those parameters you can appreciate this Oedipus adaption. The writing is fairly good.