2/3/2000
Angela's Ashes stars Emily Watson as Angela, Robert Carlyle as Malachy, and a bunch of child actors portraying the children at different ages.
Angela's Ashes is a film about an Irish Roman Catholic family living in poverty. The story takes place in Ireland and shows us how poor people can get. Angela's Ashes is a well made film depicting the conditions that few rats live in. One has the feeling of real poverty watching this film.
However, that is it. The story lacks, well. . . , a story. At first we are horrified at the conditions and the starving family. Later, we are not sympathetic to characters who bring the problems on through drink and the need to have more children. Just so that they can starve and die. We are not given anything in this film but poverty and the lowest living conditions one can imagine. In fact, we don't even know why the film is called Angela's Ashes.
The story is from a Pulitzer prize winning book of the same name. Whatever substance the book had, did not make it to the screen.
I give it 2 out of 5 pieces of coal: