I watched "the cider house rules" for the first time the other night. I must say that my early and initial reactions to the film were "why is Michael Caine not a cockney? He sounds silly" and "surely they could have gotten someone else other than Peter Parker to play Homer?". These fairly plausible questions and thoughts were soon extinguished and deemed pedantoic when i was soon drawn into this delicately steady story of an emotionally immune orphan and his release into the world.
Michael Caine is Dr Wilbur Larch who runs an orphanage but also performs safe but illegal abortions, people travel there to add a child to their life or to prevent it from happening. The story tells of one child, named Homer, who didn't have much luck as an orphan; his first foster parents didn't know how to cope with such an unusually quiet baby whilst his second batch of foster parents beat him. In the end, Dr Larch took it upon himself to keep him at the orphanage and to make him "useful", as he puts it - he trains him to be a doctor.
Years go by and baby Homer becomes a youthful pre-spiderman Tobey Maguire. Despite becoming an important and "useful" person in Dr Larch and the orphan's lives he has never seen the sea, never fallen in love and has barely left the orphanage. This all changes when Candy and Wally (Charlize Theron and Paul Rudd) turn up for an abortion one day and Homer spontaneously seizes this opportunity to go back with them. He ends up working on Wally's parent's apple farm and there he meets fellow apple pickers and cider makers Mr Rose (Delroy Lindo), Rose Rose, Peaches and company. This is where Homer's life truely begins, but where will it take him?
I loved this film, a beautifully written story with characters that you easily get very fond of, especially the children at the orphanage, all with their own little traits and mischievious behaviour. It all makes for very pleasant viewing but also includes some sad moments as certain characters endure some heart wrenching scenes. This film is about living your life but also of responsibility towards others which may stand in the way of that, some people fail to learn this lesson in the film due to selfishness but others, even the simple ones (i.e. Homer) tend to learn this lesson eventually.
As i said, my initial pedantic flaws soon became insignificant as the viewer grows fond of the characters. Even Tobey Maguire did well to portray Homer, some would argue his role didn't require much as Homer struggles to convey much if any emotion (which leads to some funny moments). However, i think that the few moments he does is handled very well with Maguire's face and person very easily portraying a young man immune to certain aspects of feelings, which have to suddenly grow when he steps into this new life of his. Michael Caine deservedly received an Oscar for best supporting actor in this film.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: John Duigan - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Penelope Cruz
Honored with two Academy Awards... Best Supporting Actor for Michael Caine and Best ... more
Adapted Screenplay for John Irving...The Cider House Rules tells a compelling and heartwarming story about how far a young man must travel to find the place where he tr...
In adapting his own novelThe Cider House Rulesfor the screen, John Irving sacrificed at ... more
least some of the depth and detail that made his humanitarian themes resonate, while the film--directed with Scandinavian sobriety by Lasse Hallström--is often vagu...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 6 to 10 days...
In adapting his own novelThe Cider House Rulesfor the screen, John Irving sacrificed at ... more
least some of the depth and detail that made his humanitarian themes resonate, while the film--directed with Scandinavian sobriety by Lasse Hallström--is often vagu...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 6 to 10 days...
Honored with two Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actor for Michael Caine and Best Adapted ... more
Screenplay for John Irving - The Cider House Rules tells a compelling and heartwarming story about how far a young man must travel to find the place where he tru...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![The Cider House Rules [DVD] [2000]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78537047.jpg "The Cider House Rules [DVD] [2000]")
Jun 17th, 2009
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