While the film reflects many of the faults and weaknesses of the source material, Emily Watson's performance as Angela is one to be remembered for all time. She is absolutely electric and the screen smolders in every scene in which she works her magic. Mesmerizing and hypnotic in her painful portrait, Watson demonstrates once again why she is considered one of the greatest motion picture actors of our time. In film after film, from Hilary and Jackie to The Book Thief, this is an actor that astonishes audiences with each performance. She certainly succeeds beyond all belief in Angela's Ashes in proving the Academy Awards have lost any credibility they ever had when she did not win the Oscar for her work here, or in Breaking the Waves, Punch Drunk Love, or a dozen other incredibly beautiful film performances.

Rated 9 out of 10!!!!The film "Angela's Ashes" is a drama that is based on the book "Angela's Ashes" written by Frank McCourt. The film was directed by director Alan Parker who was nominated for two Oscars in 1978 and 1988. The film is classified as a drama because of the type of events that occur the film. The film has a serious tone throughout the whole thing which is based on the poor living conditions and poverty of Ireland between the 1920's and 1940's. Drama is defined as a situation or succession of events in a real life having the dramatic progression or emotional effect characteristic of a film or play. The story starts off with a young Frank McCourt as played by Joe Breen and his family which consists of a mother, father, and 3 brothers and a newly born baby girl all living in the United States. After a harsh time in the United States and a tragic death in the family during the depression they moved back to their home country, Ireland. In a small catholic town the father, Malachy McCourt played by Robert Carlyle unable to find a job due to being an alcoholic and a protestant. After more deaths in the family Malachy McCourt goes to England to look for a job and plans to send back money to support his family. Back at home in Ireland the McCourt family struggling to get by and the children having to go out and scrounge up food just so that they can live. While the mother, Angela McCourt played by Emily Watson has to beg for food from the people around the town who have leftovers. But what happened to Malachy McCourt who went over to England to earn money? As Frankie slowly gets older he realizes that for his family to be able to survive he has to get a job and successfully got a job pouring coal into holes in the street to supply heating to houses. Later on Frank has to go to the hospital due to a sickness he got from the unclean and dirty town due to the poor sewage from the outside toilets and people dumping their waste into the streets from the middle of the street. Growing up in a rough environment and finally a teenager Frank finds a girlfriend whom he grows very close to but in the end something goes wrong and Frank can't do anything about it. Malachy McCourt was a character that stood out to me during the film, he was played by Robert Carlyle who won the BAFTA film award in 1998 and also nominated for an Emmy in 2006 for the movie "Human Trafficking." Malachy McCourt stood out t me because of the way he portrays life he seems like he gives up too easily and whenever something goes wrong or even if something is going good he still goes to the bar and blows all of the money the family has(which is not much) on alcohol. When Malachy finally comes home from the bars he can barely walk and is singing Irish songs that he has picked up from his life. But even though Robert Carlyle played a character that was disappointing he played him very well. Without Malachy in the movie the story line would not have been as interesting as it was and without Malachy the story line would have had to be completely different. Malachy of course was born in Ireland but in the north part so he was a protestant and was disliked by the mother in law because she was catholic and also he is an alcoholic and drinks the families' money away. I didn't like Malachy because of the way he lived his life and wasting it by drinking and not supporting his family.The best scene in the film to me was when little Frank McCourt was in school and got in trouble because another kid made fun of his shoes that had a bicycle tire in the bottom so that he had tread and his feet were not showing through the bottom. Frank went to the principal's office with another kid and they both got their wrists slapped with a ruler for a punishment. This scene was my favorite because of the picture that you see when Frankie has these shoes that have a huge piece of rubber on the bottom so he walks like a duck. The worst scene in the movie to me was when Malachy went to England to find a job and he said he was going to send back the money he earned from the job. But deep down you know he will not send any money and probably spend it all on alcohol.If I was the director I would have changed the ending of the movie because the way it ends know it leaves you hanging to think about what could happen after Frankie makes it to the United States. I would have kept the movie going and had a flash forward to what Frankie could have been doing when he was 30 years old and had him with his wife and kids in front of the house holding a picture of his mother and father, and that would have been the ending to the film if I was the director.

It's an amazing film! At certain moments, of course, it's too naturalistic and too outspoken, the scenes with vomiting and masturbation could be omitted, the film wouldn't lose its artistic value, if these two were omitted. The film depicts the shaping of Frank's character, including his sexuality. I was attracted by a number of historical details, including the type of clothes, type of premises of that epoch, and the like. Definitely, Emily Watson's acting is as always excellent. Robert Carlyle was perfect - he managed to make a charming portrayal of a failure and drunkard. I really enjoyed the film and would recommend it to those who search historical truth in the feature films.

Angela's Ashes is a moving drama by long time and now retired director Alan Parker adapted from Frank McCourts Pulitzer Prize winning book about his childhood. Already in the opening scene we are informed by the narration from the main character that "I had a miserable childhood", and wow what an understatement that turned out to be. In the very same opening we are introduced to most of the main characters, the mother Angela McCourt (played by Oscar Nominee Emily Watson) and the somewhat loser father Malachy McCourt (played by Robert Carlyle), as well as his younger brother Malachy (jr.), the twins and his little baby sister. Just to set the tone for the rest of the movie his sister dies in the very next and devastated by the loss Angela moves her family back to Ireland. His baby sister dieing also makes us understand a lot about his drunk and no good father who disappears for several weeks. As the poor family arrives in Ireland we are introduced to his mother's side of the family, Angela's brother, sister, the sisters husband and the strong overly judging grandmother (played by Ronnie Masterson) who besides her roughness makes the perfect comic relief. You might get the idea that most of their problems are over now but your soon drawn back into their miserable surroundings as the father, crushed by the fact that he neither can get or keep a job picks up his drinking habits again and the rest of their family keeps fading away. In the film Frank McCourt is played by three different actors (Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens, and Michael Legge) without counting the narrator voiced by Andrew Bennett and contains for the most part different peaces of his life kept together by the wonderful narration. The story itself is a heart-warming and honest look at how hard and dangerous it were to grow up in Ireland in the 30's and 40's and deals with a boy's fight to get out of his terrible and miserable surroundings of hate, poverty and religious conservatism. Personally I think the film works beautifully in making a harsh and true look at the events and Frank McCourt himself has apparently praised the movie for a correct portrayal of his life. The actors all give marvelous performances, especially Emily Watson who is the perfect dramatic actress and as for Robert Carlyle's performance he makes the makes father more sympathetic than most other actors ever could. Even the child actors give strong performances as innocent and blue-eyed children in the transformation of becoming adults and as the main character grows up we learn to love him, even at his most sinister at the end. I can with one hand at my heart state that I could not find anything wrong about this movie and that it moved me more than most other movies has ever moved me before. The acting is strong, the narration is perfect, the direction is wonderful and the cinematography is probably one of the most beautiful things you will ever see in your life. The music is also very lovable and as a whole I would say the movie is a extremely strong 9/10.