It's a pleasure to see an orphanage not straight out of Dickens (although there are plenty of Dickensian references throughout the film - at story time, the novel being read is David Copperfield). The boys and girls at the orphanage have forged a strong bond as a result of the shared experiences of loneliness and dejection - each time a family comes to adopt, all but one of them will be disappointed. Larch and Homer are more like father and son than mentor and pupil.
SCREENIT CIDER HOUSE RULES MOVIE
Relationships in The Cider House Rules are complex, and the movie never condescends to or judges its characters. Homer is the lone character who transitions from one role to the other. Rose and his daughter, and Wally and his mother. Larch is the ultimate father (despite his assertion that he is the "caregiver to many father to none"), and the orphans are the ultimate children. Of course, this is the cycle of human life - children grow up to become parents, so Hallstrom and Irving are merely illustrating this truth.
__CiderHouseRules(1).jpg "screenit cider house rules")
Nearly everyone in the film fills the role of a child, a parent, or, in one case, both. The movie is also about the relationships between parents and children. Only after he has discovered himself can he chart his future. The arrival of Wally and Candy opens a door to the outside, and Homer rushes through it. Larch, but, trapped within such an insular community, he has never had the opportunity to unlock the real Homer Wells. He is a big brother to the other orphans and a helper to Dr. Clouds, the course of his life has been mapped by the expectations of others. The impetus behind The Cider House Rules is Homer's search to find himself. And Oliver Stapleton's cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. Rachel Portman's score strikes all of the right notes - it is powerful without going over-the-top. The ending is satisfying without being too sentimental. Emotions generated by this picture (and there are many) seem genuine, not as if the director is forcing us to feel something. There are a few unexpected turns, but nothing catastrophic or difficult to swallow, and the movie steers clear of overt manipulation. The plot moves at a perfect pace - not so slow that audiences will lose interest, but not so fast that the narrative begins to break down. The Cider House Rules does everything right - there are no obvious missteps. Larch finds his hopes continually dimming that Homer will one day return. That life eventually includes picking apples at a remote orchard and falling in love with Candy while her beau is off flying missions against Japan. Clouds so he can see the world and establish a life for himself. Homer chooses this moment to hitch a ride with them out of St. She's at the orphanage for an abortion, and, after a brief stay, she is ready to go home.
Life changes for Homer with the arrival of Air Force officer Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend, Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron). There is also a moral divide between them: Larch will perform abortions (even though they're illegal), but Homer will not. By the time he has reached adulthood, Homer is as good a doctor as Larch, albeit without a degree. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), who sees great promise in the boy and imparts valuable medical knowledge to him. Clouds, Maine as the special project of Dr. He has spent his entire life at an orphanage in St. Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) is ineligible to join the military because of a bad heart. Most of the story transpires during the mid-1940s in an America that has added its strength to the Allied forces. Unlike last year's Simon Birch or the other Irving book-to-movie translations, this picture stays reasonably true to its written inspiration and doesn't veer off into the territory of unbearable melodrama. The script by John Irving is based on his novel of the same name (Irving, incidentally, also has a cameo in the film as a station master near the end). Backed by Miramax money, the director of My Life As a Dog has crafted a beautiful, emotionally resonant motion picture. One of the best and brightest of these is Lasse Hallstrom's The Cider House Rules. The final few months of 1999 have seen a flurry of wonderful films reaching theaters - a concentrated heaven for movie-goers the likes of which has not been seen in years (and certainly not since I started reviewing). While I do not believe the revelation of certain plot points will in any way compromise the viewing experience, those who wish to see The Cider House Rules without having previous knowledge of certain elements would do well to bail out now and return after they have seen the film. Note to readers: this review contains spoilers.
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