ANGELA’S ASHES

 

THREE STARS - Challenging

 

 

       When you are the oldest child of a family whose father is an alcoholic, the whole world takes on a tearful darkness:  the disappointments are many;  the desire to fix it all is immeasurable;  the impotence to do anything to change the situation is devastating.

       Creating an impression as much as a film, Director Alan Parker takes these inner struggles of Frank McCourt and projects them onto the screen.  The result is nearly overwhelming.

       Though the theme of the film is that Frank rises like a phoenix from his mother Angela’s ashes, the result is mixed and the resurrection unconvincing.

       Filmed on location in Limerick, Ireland, the autobiographical tale of Frank’s childhood is seen through a darkened lens.  The unceasing rain, like the tears within his soul, creates the impression of continual gloom.  The anger of family members and neighbors is seldom lifted.  It is obviously not a real picture of real people, but only the shadow images which remain within the pain of Frank’s memory.

       Having begun his life in Brooklyn in 1930, Frank’s family is forced to return to Ireland after the death of his sister when he is five.  Already having four boys, Frank’s father Malachy (Robert Carlyle) is ecstatic when he\is daughter is born.  But when an unexplained illness takes her life, Malachy abandons the family for a few days while Frank’s mother Angela (Emily Watson) goes into debilitating depression. 

       The collapse of their family forces them to return to Angela’s home town of Limerick and live off the public dole.  Malachy is unable to get work there, not only because of the prejudice against his Northern Ireland and Protestant heritage, but also because he is unable to keep the jobs he does get because he gets drunk with the first pay and doesn’t return to work the next day.

       In their classic codependent union, Angela doesn’t confront his behavior and only makes cutting remarks instead, which further drives Malachy into his isolating torment.

       This is the primary value of the film.  As a case study for the devastating effects of alcohol and codependency, it is a masterpiece.  The poverty that their symbiosis breeds is not only financial, but it is emotional, relational and spiritual as well.

       The spiritual and religious memories are most disturbing within Frank’s memoirs.  Experiencing the deaths of three siblings as a young child, Frank is both confused and disturbed by these “acts of God.”  But whether through his silence or his parents’ misunderstandings, no one explains the true cause of their deaths or the deeper purposes of prayer.  The end result is to leave both Frank and the viewer with an unsettling view of God’s care.

       This unsettling view is even more obvious when Frank attempts to seek inclusion within the church.

       Living within a predominantly Roman Catholic community, Frank’s experiences of the priests are almost all negative.   He is rejected when he attempts to study at the monastery.  He is rejected when he attempts to be an altar boy.   It is not until he is fifteen years of age and attempting to come to grips with the weight of his pain that he meets a priest who doesn’t just hear his confession, but who truly shows him kindness and absolves him of his sins.

       Though it could be argued that the struggle between the Catholic and Protestant people of Ireland would cause the priests of his town to reject him as the son of a Northern Irish man, it could also be true that Frank’s personal pain painted a darker picture of the priesthood as well.

       Often when people attempt to find the forgiveness of God, the eyes of faith through which they view God, the church, clergy and other Christians are so tainted that they can’t see clearly.  Projecting their fears and shame upon the faces and voices of the pastors and priests, it takes a long and gentle healing process before they trust enough to allow the living God into their lives.

       Unlike many who experience alcoholism accompanied with the abuse of an angry or predatory father, Frank’s father and mother love him. This love proves to be the ultimate power which propels him out of their dreary poverty and back to the nation of his birth and life as a writer here in the United States.

       Though it is difficult to immerse one’s self in the dreary depression of Frank’s childhood journey, it is nevertheless a valuable experience that begins to allow us to know the pain and darkness of a child growing up in poverty and in a neglecting, alcoholic home.  With this insight we may have increasing compassion for the deep seated tears of their souls long after they left behind their childhood woes.

 

(words:  789)

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