# Cider House Rules, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Ian Waldron-Mantgani

     The Cider House Rules      ***1/2

Rated on a 4-star scale Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre) Released in the UK by Buena Vista International on 24 March, 2000;=20 certificate 12; 129 minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 2.35:1

Directed by Lasse Hallstr=F6m; produced by Richard N. Gladstein. Written by John Irving; based upon his own novel. Photographed by Oliver Stapleton; edited by Lisa Zeno Churgin.

    CAST.....
    Tobey Maguire..... Homer Wells
    Charlize Theron..... Candy Kendall
    Delroy Lindo..... Arthur Rose
    Paul Rudd..... Wally Worthington
    Michael Caine..... Wilbur Larch
    Jane Alexander..... Nurse Edna
    Kathy Baker..... Nurse Angela

"The Cider House Rules", rich in texture and Dickensian in themes, is such a= =20 skilful dance of a film that it hops over cinema's trickiest hurdles and we=20 hardly even notice. It makes sentimentality enjoyable, adapts a novel withou= t=20 condensing it into a patronising Hollywood formula and avoids silly=20 speechmaking when commenting on the complex issue of abortion.

The source material is a 1985 best seller by John Irving, which ran eight=20 hundred pages and covered forty years in the life of an orphan named Homer=20 Wells. In adapting his book to the screen, Irving wrote a multitude of scrip= t=20 drafts and took them to several directors; it's taken so long he's written a= =20 book on the project itself. Miraculous, then, that the movie has been=20 realised at all, let alone so well.

It is set in the 1940s, and Homer (Tobey Maguire) has grown up in a Maine=20 orphanage, St. Cloud's. He was adopted twice as a baby, sent back once=20 because he didn't cry enough, and taken back on the other occasion because=20 one set of parents beat him. His father figure is the dedicated Dr. Larch=20 (Michael Caine), who is addicted to ether, and performs abortions at a time=20 when they are illegal, but is a good man nonetheless -- in taking Homer unde= r=20 his wing, and making sure he is "of use", he has taught the boy enough about= =20 medicine to qualify him as a skilled surgeon.

Homer is not convinced he wants to be a doctor, though, and has reservations= =20 about the moral validity of abortion. He would like to see the outside world= ,=20 and gets his chance when the cute young couple of Wally (Paul Rudd) and Cand= y=20 (Charlize Theron) come to St. Cloud's to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy.=20 Wally's family has an orchard near the ocean, and Homer is offered a job=20 there.

Wally gets called up to serve in World War Two, but since Homer has a heart=20 condition, he remains at his new home, picking apples. He and Candy begin a=20 love affair, which is significant because it's a taste of normal life, and=20 once he's sampled the joys of the real world, Homer must face up to its=20 grimmer realities too. When a seemingly upright orchard worker impregnates=20 his teenage daughter, Homer feels compelled to intervene, as the question of= =20 abortion suddenly seems much less clear-cut. And so does his decision to=20 leave St. Cloud's -- perhaps Larch was right all along, and Homer is his=20 natural successor.

I am simplifying the story to a damaging degree; it does make good sense,=20 even though Irving had to compress the events of the novel into a two-year=20 period. The film is tighter and more focused for it; the abortion thread is=20 woven in with great skill, whereas in the book it seemed a tad tacked-on. An= d=20 the messages are clearer -- rules may be for the good of humanity, but part=20 of being truly human is knowing when to break them; and people belong where=20 they can do the most good.

Both works feature mature character depictions, like that of the incestuous=20 father, Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo). He doesn't realise he's done anything=20 damaging, and that's the kind of self-delusion which similar people go=20 through in real life. Homer, the hero of the piece, doesn't do any=20 grandstanding; Tobey Maguire's performance is engaging because of boyish=20 innocence and quiet dignity. The character was raised in an orphanage,=20 remember, and has learnt to reveal in his eyes alone what he feels about his= =20 wonderful and terrible discoveries.

The movie is more obviously sincere than the novel, which, although generall= y=20 absorbing, had moments of messy wording that left me unsure of their tone.=20 The director, Lasse Hallstr=F6m, and his cinematographer, Oliver Stapleton,=20 have crafted an intimate New England look reminiscent of the third act in=20 "The Shawshank Redemption", full of naturally beautiful browns and greens. W= e=20 can't help but be moved by all the cute little orphans, either, and it's nic= e=20 to see Jane Alexander return to the screen, in the role of one of Larch's=20 nurses.

This is not quite a perfect movie. It doesn't emphasise any particular plot=20 point as being the driving force behind the narrative, the romance is=20 underdeveloped and Homer's final farewell to is too brief. But generally it=20 is an effective tearjerker, with old-fashioned pacing, sweet violin music an= d=20 an admirable social conscience. Please, sir... I want some more.

COPYRIGHT(c) 2000 Ian Waldron-Mantgani

Please visit, and encourage others to visit, the UK Critic's website, which=20 is located at http://members.aol.com/ukcritic

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