Simon Birch, a recent adaptation of a John Irving novel, was released in 1998 and received moderate critical praise for its masterful storytelling. The charming tale about a boy born small who believed himself an instrument of God found its way into the hearts of most of the few people who saw it, and the cast won over viewers with their talents. Ashley Judd especially proved her worth as an actress, capturing the graceful and knowing
innocence at the essence of the lead female role in the film.
But there were a few whom it did not please. Die-hard Irving fans thought the adaptation, which essentially focused merely on the first third of the book A Prayer for Owen Meany, drained the soul out of the novel by cutting out little Meany’s experiences in the Vietnam war. Simon Birch was to them just a bastardization of Owen Meany, retaining some of the story but none of the sheer joy the characters of the novel could elicit from readers. In
short, it left them wanting more.
John Irving fans have their wish fulfilled then with The Cider House Rules, another film adaptation of Irving’s work. This time the screenplay came from Irving himself, and the emotional heart of the novel is intact even if some of the subplots were trimmed. While the novel itself might have much more depth, because it is allowed pages and pages to explore the characters and the interactions, the film seems to know how to best utilize the limited time it has.
The film revolves around the relationship between a young orphan named Homer Wells and the man who raised him in the orphanage, Dr. Wilbur Larch. Wells (played by Tobey Maguire) and Larch (in a role played by Michael Caine that won him a much deserved Supporting Actor Oscar) act as father and son, even if neither is willing to acknowledge the role the other plays in their lives. In the novel this unrecognized love for each other that both characters display takes quite some time to grow; in the film it takes a look, a mere glance. In one single shot we are given all the background it takes whole chapters to explain in the novel. As a screenwriter, Irving realizes that the pages of Dr. Larch's history he provides in the novel are not as necessary as that relationship itself between Larch and Homer. This lesson about the prioritizing that must occur in the compressed time frame of a movie is one which Irving recounts the learning of (through the endless rewriting of this screenplay) in his memoir My Movie Business.
One element of the film that may turn off some viewers is the exact nature of Dr. Larch's profession. The orphanage normally treats two types of patients: women who leave their babies behind and women who don't want to have their babies at all. Abortion is a very touchy subject, in the 1940s subtext of the film and the modern world as well, and it is one subject that even the characters of the film debate about. As Homer grows, Dr. Larch puts him to use as an assistant to him in deliveries. But Homer refuses to help the doctor with abortions, even though he knows how to perform the procedure perfectly.
The abortion debate, as well as the unwillingness of both Homer and Dr. Larch to admit how much they care for each other, eventually drives a wedge between the two. One day when a young couple named Wally and Candy appear at the orphanage, Homer decides to leave with them to explore the world. The abortion Candy receives is only necessitated by Wally's imminent departure for the war, and while Wally is gone, Homer takes his place working as a picker in the apple orchard owned by Wally's mother. During that time Homer slowly begins to fall for Candy (played by Charlize Theron) and must deal with his conflicting love for her and his devotion to his friend Wally.
When Homer leaves the orphanage, the film really opens up. Homer's wonder at every new experience he encounters once he's left the orphanage is passed on to the audience through director Lasse Hallstrom's masterful use of the Maine landscape that is the setting of the latter half of film. His scenes in the orchard, the beaches, the ocean, and the cityscapes are filmed so beautifully that we too understand Homer's awe at this strange land he has found himself in. It allows us to see why Homer is able to fool himself into being pulled away from the orphanage, his home where he truly belongs. Unfortunately, for a large portion of the film the orphanage itself has disappeared, temporarily ripping out the heart of the movie by depriving us of what really is Homer's emotional center.
Eventually Homer must come to terms with all of his emotions, and the acting Tobey Maguire displays in these scenes is absolutely brilliant. His roles in very dramatic films such as The Ice Storm and Pleasatville have always been very subtle, and Maguire uses that tendency to turn emotion inward against Homer's character here, heightening the tension when he must express them eventually outright and explore his feelings toward both Candy and the abortions to which he is so opposed. Charlize Theron too does excellent in the role of Candy, exuding a grace in the face of her own conflicting feelings that proves that she has the capability to play characters with more depth than the roles she has played in Devil's Advocate and Reindeer Games.
By film's end the movie has made you think about the conflicts in your own lives, not necessarily with these same issues but with our own morals in general. It is amovie with a message--not the "liberal, pro-choice agenda" that Michael Medved would have us believe. It tries to teach us that we must be true to ourselves and not try to run away from reality. In essence, we can go home again, and The Cider House Rules teaches us quite adeptly with its brilliant acting, plot and direction that home is not always such a bad place to be.
