Angela's Ashes
List Price:
Our Price: $12.99
You Save: $7.00 (35%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $5.49 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Andrew Bennett, Joe Breen, Oisin Carney Daly, Robert Carlyle, Sean Carney DalyBrand: Paramount
Primary Contributor: Robert Carlyle
Primary Contributor: Watson, Emily
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 145 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-07-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount Home Video
DVD Reviews of Angela's Ashes
DVD Review: wow!
Summary: 5 Stars
it was worth every penny!
it came in three days and it was brand new like i had just bought it at a store. thanks
DVD Review: angela's ashes
Summary: 5 Stars
very happy with dvd. it's a very good movie, i would recommend any one to buy this titleDVD Review: A Bit Of The Odd Manner, On the Screen
Summary: 5 Stars
This review has been used to to comment on the book "Angela's Ashes". Many of the points made here aplly to the film. Read the book AND watch the movie.
Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" is probably the easiest review that I have had to write since I have been doing such reviews in this space. Why? Frank McCourt's book of childhood memoirs is my story. No, not in the details of his life's story, or mine. But rather in how being Irish, being poor and being uprooted affects your childhood, and later. And those traumas, for good or evil, cross generational lines. McCourt, we are told as his story unfolds, was born in America of immigrants of the Diaspora after Irish independence who, for one reason or another, returned to the old country in defeat in the 1930's. As McCourt notes right at the beginning, that fact in itself provides a rather ironic twist if one is familiar with Irish history (at least until very recently). He is, in any case, thus a child of the Great Depression and World War II, the generation of my parents, as it was refracted through Ireland during that period. I, on the other hand, am a child of the 1960's, the "Generation of `68" here in America born of the dreaded Irish Catholic-English Protestant combination- and raised in an Irish Catholic enclave. Nevertheless the pages of this memoir are filled to the brim with the results of the emotional (and sometimes physical scars) of being "shanty" Irish in this world that hit home to this reader.
That said, we did not share the terrible effect that "the drink" had on creating his dysfunctional family with his father's, Malachy McCourt, crazed need for the alcohol cure to drown his sorrows and his bitterness and the fact that his great moment in life was his bit for "the cause" (of Irish independence). A familiar story in the Irish community here and in the old country but my father seldom drank, although he too was constantly out of work and shared with Frank's father that same bitterness about his fate. He was uneducated, lacking in skills and prospects and as a "hillbilly" Protestant Southerner from coal country down in Kentucky. Thus, an `outsider' like Frank's father. That is the commonality that caught my eye (and sometimes my throat) as I read of Frank's youthful trials, tribulations and adventures. McCourt's ability to tap into that "mystical" something is what makes this a fine read, whether you are Irish or not.
Throughout the book McCourt's woe begotten but fatally prideful father is constantly referred to in the Irishtown working class poor ghetto of Limerick (and elsewhere, as well, but the heart of the story is told from there) as having an odd manner. This reflects a certain clannishness among those from the North of Ireland (Dare I say it, then area then known as Ulster) and a sneaking suspicion amount that crowd of some alien (meaning English Protestant) heritage. As the book progresses that odd trait is transferred (by heredity?) to Frank in his various wanderings, enterprise and desires. What joins us together then is that odd manner that gets repeatedly invoked throughout the book. Frank survived to tell the tale. As did I. But in both cases it appears to have been a near thing.
There is more that unites us. The shame culture, not an exclusive Irish Catholic property but very strong nevertheless, drilled in by the clannishness, the closeness of neighbors, the Catholic religion and by the bloody outsiders- usually but not always Protestants of some sort (as least for blame purposes- you know, the eight hundred years of British tyranny although very real to be sure). All driven by not having nearly enough of this world's goods. Every time I read a passage about the lack of food, the quality of the food, the conditions of the various tenements that the McCourt family lived in, the lack of adequate and clean clothing I cringed at the thoughts from my own childhood. Or the various times when the family was seriously down and out and his mother, the beloved Angela of the title, had to beg charity of one form or another from some institution that existed mainly to berate the poor. I can remember own my mother's plaintive cry when my brothers and I misbehaved that the next step was the county poor farm. Ouch!
And how about the false pride and skewed order of priorities? Frank's father was a flat out drunk and was totally irresponsible. From a child's perspective, however, he is still your dad and must be given the respect accordingly, especially against the viciousness of the outside world. But life's disappointments for the father also get reflected in the expectations for the son. The dreams are smaller. Here, the horizons are pretty small when a governmental job with its security just above the "dole" is the touchstone of respectability. Sean O'Casey was able to make enduring plays from the slums of Dublin out of this material. And Frank McCourt enduring literature. Thanks, brother.
Note: The movie version of "Angela's Ashes" pretty fairly reflects the intentions of Frank McCourt in his childhood memoirs and follows the book accordingly, without the usual dramatic embellishments of that medium. The story line is so strong it needs no such "touch-ups". Particularly compelling is the very visual sense of utter poverty down at the base of Irish society in Frank McCourt's childhood.
DVD Review: A real survivor!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've long-loved this film from my initial viewing. It's an excellent example of how bad a person's life can really be without that person simply giving up or becoming so pessimistic and cynical, a positive outlook is lost. Mr. McCourt's spirit shines through in this painful and touching exposure of his past and his honest understanding of parental issues that could have mired any successful endeavor, but didn't is amazing.
You never know how truly hopeless life can appear and this "Fighting Irishman" rose above it beautifully. It's an inspiration, to be sure.
DVD Review: FAIR
Summary: 5 Stars
THE ONLY THING I DIDNT LIKE WAS IT DIDNT COME IN A BOX BUT IT WAS IN GOOD CONDITION.
Description of Angela's Ashes
Life in impoverished depression-era ireland holds little promise for young frank mccourt the oldest son in a tightly-knit family. Frank embarks on an inspiring journey to overcome the poverty of his childhood and reach the land of his dreams: america. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/19/2008 Starring: Emily Watson Robert Carlyle Run time: 145 minutes Rating: R Director: Alan ParkerBecause Frank McCourt's bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes was dearly embraced by millions of readers, it was perhaps inevitable that Alan Parker's film version would prove somewhat disappointing. McCourt's book is blessed with subtleties of language and detailed observation that do not easily lend themselves to screen interpretation, and Parker's film suffers from an overly literal, reverently somber approach that lacks the cumulative emotions of McCourt's account of impoverished youth in Ireland. And where McCourt was able to leaven his family's suffering with tenacious humor and fighting Irish spirit, Parker's film provides precious little uplift in the course of 145 minutes.
The film is by no means an artistic failure. While admirably avoiding sentiment, Parker is nearly peerless in his direction of children, and the three actors playing Frank at ages 7, 11, and 15 are uniformly superb. As photographed by Michael Seresin, the re-created lanes of Limerick, Ireland are almost painfully authentic in the cold, gray dampness that permeates nearly every scene. (This is surely one of the wettest films ever made.) As the McCourt parents--chronically depressed Angela and recklessly drunken Malachy--Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle successfully bypass the pitfalls of melodrama in a film that could have wallowed in bathos. And while Parker's anecdotal approach falls short in conveying the fullness of McCourt's experience (the director fared better with the Irish rockers of The Commitments), Angela's Ashes captures a specific time and place with vivid force, remaining loyal to the spirit of Frank McCourt's beloved tale of survival. --Jeff Shannon
Ireland DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in Ireland DVDs
Angela's AshesParamount; Release date: 2000-07-18; DVD
Best price: $8.35
Price in other shops:
High SpiritsRelease date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops:
Widows' PeakRelease date: 2005-04-19; DVD
Best price: $4.86
Price in other shops:
The Wind That Shakes the BarleyWELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2007-09-04; DVD
Best price: $12.10
Price in other shops:
Far and AwayCRUISE,TOM; Release date: 1998-07-01; DVD
Best price: $4.33
Price in other shops:
Michael CollinsWarner Brothers; Release date: 1997-04-08; DVD
Best price: $7.46
Price in other shops:
The CommitmentsTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 1999-11-02; DVD
Best price: $4.46
Price in other shops:
Enemy at the GatesFIENNES,JOSEPH; Release date: 2001-08-14; DVD
Best price: $2.88
Price in other shops:
Waking Ned DevineRelease date: 1999-06-01; DVD
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
OnceTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-12-18; DVD
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
60 Minutes - Frank McCourt (September 19, 1999)Release date: 2006-06-15; DVD
Best price: $17.95
Schindler's List (Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2004-03-09; DVD
Best price: $9.74
Price in other shops:
To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition)Universal; Release date: 1998-04-29; DVD
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops:
The Wind That Shakes the BarleyWELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2007-09-04; DVD
Best price: $11.91
Price in other shops:
Michael CollinsWarner Brothers; Release date: 1997-04-08; DVD
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops:
Angela's Ashes: A Memoirby Frank McCourt
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1999-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.25
Price in other shops:
Teacher Man: A Memoirby Frank McCourt
Scribner; Published: 2005-11-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.93
Price in other shops:
Angela's Ashes: A Memoirby Frank McCourt
Scribner; Published: 1999-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.18
Price in other shops:
The McCourts of New YorkRelease date: 1999-10-12; DVD
Best price: $9.85
Price in other shops:
Tis: A Memoirby Frank McCourt
Published: 2000-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.67
Price in other shops: