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IMDbPro

Angela's Ashes

  • 19991999
  • RR
  • 2h 25m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
22K
YOUR RATING
Angela's Ashes (1999)
Theatrical Trailer from Paramount
Play trailer2:15
2 Videos
28 Photos
BiographyDrama
Based on the best-selling autobiography by Irish expatriate Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the p... Read allBased on the best-selling autobiography by Irish expatriate Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brookly... Read allBased on the best-selling autobiography by Irish expatriate Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find th... Read all
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
22K
YOUR RATING
    • Alan Parker
    • Frank McCourt(book)
    • Laura Jones(screenplay)
    • Alan Parker(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Emily Watson
    • Robert Carlyle
    • Joe Breen
    • Alan Parker
    • Frank McCourt(book)
    • Laura Jones(screenplay)
    • Alan Parker(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Emily Watson
    • Robert Carlyle
    • Joe Breen
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 169User reviews
    • 73Critic reviews
    • 54Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar

    Videos2

    Angela's Ashes
    Trailer 2:15
    Watch Angela's Ashes
    Kerry Condon Career Retrospective
    Clip 1:00
    Watch Kerry Condon Career Retrospective

    Photos28

    Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Robert Carlyle, Emily Watson, Joe Breen, and Shane Murray-Corcoran in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Ciaran Owens in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Ciaran Owens in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Michael Legge in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Michael Legge in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Robert Carlyle, Emily Watson, Joe Breen, and Shane Murray-Corcoran in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Alan Parker, Joe Breen, Michael Legge, and Ciaran Owens in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Alan Parker in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Alan Parker, Robert Carlyle, Emily Watson, and Shane Murray-Corcoran in Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Angela's Ashes (1999)
    Angela's Ashes (1999)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Emily Watson
    Emily Watson
    • Angela McCourt
    Robert Carlyle
    Robert Carlyle
    • Malachy (Dad)
    Joe Breen
    • Young Frank
    Ciaran Owens
    Ciaran Owens
    • Middle Frank
    Michael Legge
    Michael Legge
    • Older Frank
    Ronnie Masterson
    • Grandma Sheehan
    Pauline McLynn
    Pauline McLynn
    • Aunt Aggie
    Liam Carney
    Liam Carney
    • Uncle Pa Keating
    Eanna MacLiam
    Eanna MacLiam
    • Uncle Pat
    Andrew Bennett
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    Shane Murray-Corcoran
    • Young Malachy
    • (as Shane Murray Corcoran)
    Devon Murray
    Devon Murray
    • Middle Malachy
    Peter Halpin
    Peter Halpin
    • Older Malachy
    Aaron Geraghty
    • New Born Michael
    Sean Carney Daly
    • Baby Michael
    Oisin Carney Daly
    • Baby Michael
    Shane Smith
    • Middle Michael
    Tim O'Brien
    • Older Michael
      • Alan Parker
      • Frank McCourt(book)
      • Laura Jones(screenplay)
      • Alan Parker(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Interior church scenes were shot in a Dublin studio. Because of its controversial content, the production was denied permission to shoot in any Limerick churches.
    • Goofs
      Frank uses the volume knob to change the station on his neighbor's radio (at 1:34:51).
    • Quotes

      Narrator: [First lines] When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how my brothers and I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood. The happy childhood is hardly worth telling. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood. And worse still is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Play It to the Bone/Girl, Interrupted/Angela's Ashes/Snow Falling on Cedars/The Terrorist (2000)
    • Soundtracks
      The Dipsy Doodle
      Written by Larry Clinton

      Performed by Nat Gonella and His Georgians

    User reviews169

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    Read the novel first - then see the film: you will appreciate things better
    The Emerald Isle, due to its naturally green countryside, has more than its fair share of rain; we see plenty of that in `Angela's Ashes: and people splashing or wading through murky puddles to get to their rented houses: the tenants may be able to afford the few shillings rent per week, or may be not. Such were the conditions in a slum of Limerick, locality afamed for its humorous five-lined verses, in the west of Eire, then still very much under English `ownership'. Eire is today the only European country to have less population than it did in 1900. Reading/watching `Angela's Ashes' makes it quite clear why that was so: the Irish emigrated to North America and Australia, and indeed as a lad trying to grow up in post-war London I could hear comments like `there are more Irish in Islington than in Ireland'. I could have mentioned any other suburb of London, but it so happens that Alan Parker and Emily Watson were both born in this inner suburb. Many of those Irish émigrés found fame and fortune, and their offspring have helped to keep the White House occupied, though mostly they found their ways into suburbs of Chicago, New York, Boston, etc.

    But the 1930's in poor suburbs of New York in the Great Depression was hardly a friendly environment lurking behind the awesome sight of the lady with the torch in the harbour (a present of the French Government).

    `Angela's Ashes' records those grim years for a poor family, based on hard autobiographical facts; but Frank McCourt's book better conveys that curiously Irish sense of fatalistic humour combined with that strangely abject Catholicism so pervasive in life of those times. The elements contrast and contradict themselves: the useless alcoholic father who must be respected because he is their father, though later he disappears, and the boy's (Frankie) obedient and supposedly devout sessions at the confessionary box, would seem to veer into mirth if it were not for the sinister underlying sociological aspects. And it is the classroom where much of this spoon-fed doctrinal interpretation obviates the ruthless imposition of supposedly `clean' ideology - whether Catholic or not.

    Beautifully filmed in almost black and white, with more colour creeping in as the film progresses, undoubtedly Alan Parker has done a good job and has tried to remain faithful to the philosophical concepts of the book. Excellent Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle, but no less so the different youngsters used in the film as the children grew up, especially Michael Legge. Other secondary actors are all exemplary, well cast. The result is a film that has an authentic feel to it, such that having already read the book and seeing this film twice in no way diminishes the interest it suscitates. The music is a very different kind of John Williams to what we are accustomed, giving correct ambience to the story's unfolding.
    helpful•8
    3
    • khatcher-2
    • Nov 23, 2003

    FAQ5

    • Why was the Irish Free State so desperately poor?
    • Is "Angela's Ashes" based on a book?
    • Who is Angela?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 21, 2000 (United States)
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
      • English
      • Latin
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Roche's Buildings, Cork, Ireland
    • Production companies
      • David Brown Productions
      • Dirty Hands Productions
      • Scott Rudin Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 2 hours 25 minutes
      • Color
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital

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