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Angela’s
Ashes is the true story of the memoirs of Frank McCourt, also the author of the book.
The
McCourt family are a typical Catholic family with too many children, who find themselves
in such poverty that they must return to their hometown of Limerick in Ireland. A town
where poverty, hunger and squalor have become everyone’s way of life.
The
film is at times narrated by a voice over from the eldest McCourt child, Francis; and this
is basically his story of the endurances in his young life.
After
returning to Limerick the family find them selves in deeper and deeper poverty, as they
cannot afford to feed their own children and any money they do make is quickly drunk away
by Malachy, Francis’s father.
As
Francis grows up and his father moves away from home to find work things become a little
easier with some small family support and Francis’s new job delivering mail. It is at
this point in the movie that Francis becomes the provider for the family but also finds
himself saving diligently for that ticket out of this horribly depressing country.
Throughout
the film Angela McCourt (Emily Watson) becomes the admired and strong character that
manages to keep her family together no matter what. After having more than one child pass
and her husband drink any money that could possibly provide food for the family, you as a
viewer sympathise with her every move.
Couple
this emotional story with a sensational soundtrack from John Williams and you have a
though provoking film that leaves you with nothing less than admiration both for Angela
and Francis.
So how does this transfer hold up?
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VIDEO
The 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen transfer is another sensational effort from CTHE. Given the
nature of the source this could have been riddled with problems, but the transfer has
managed to overcome most of them. The entire transfer is dark and solemn an intended
feeling of course, but one that would generally lead to problems with shadow detail and
grain. However shadow detail is great throughout and even with deep black scenes there was
still no loss of detail, grain was never a great problem but did rear it’s head on
occasion. I would tend to think though that this could have been intentional given the
scenery.
The
transfer is consistently sharp and clear and there is no loss of detail at any stage. I
did not find any instances of edge enhancement, but there were the odd interferences from
aliasing and shimmering.
The
only other intrusions to the transfer were film artefacts, which were quite noticeable,
and given the young age of the film I would have expected a lot better.
AUDIO
The DD 5.1 audio track gave its best even with a limited use of
the surrounds. The film is generally dialogue driven, with only small opportunities for
real effects. The dialogue was always clear and easy to understand as long as you could
get your ears around the deep Irish accents.
There
was little use of the surrounds but they did kick in when required with rain and other
subtle effects and of course to support the score. The base channel use was also limited
but supported when required.
The
greatest attribute to the audio track is the sensational score from the legendary John
Williams. The sweeping orchestral pieces really bring the film to life, driving home the
desperation and of course exaltation when the onscreen action required it. The score has
really supported the film brilliantly and wouldn’t have been the same without it. It
was certainly deserving of an Oscar.
EXTRAS
- Teaser Trailer
- Theatrical Trailer Cast and Crew Interviews: Alan Parker, Frank McCourt, Emily Watson,
and Robert Carlyle. Some interesting bits and pieces especially insight into the book but
a lot of cut pieces from the Featurette. 17 mins
- Featurette: Making of: Some good bits and pieces of behind the scenes footage but a
little too many clips from the film which really just added time, rather than provided
information. 26 mins
- Audio
Commentary: Director Alan Parker I’m not an advocate for audio commentaries but this
isn’t too bad and offers some good info behind the making of the film.
- Audio
Commentary: Author Frank McCourt, Basically a description of the onscreen action and some
bits and pieces of background information. This could have been a lot better if the author
had discussed a lot more of his personal experiences.
OVERALL
I
enjoyed Angela’s Ashes and it was certainly a moving story. I fell however that it
won’t be to everyone’s taste and is probably better rented and tried before
buying.
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8/10 a
few small problems |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
8/10 clear and well done
6/10
not a great film for wow factor. |
| EXTRAS |
8/10 a
good effort here |
| OVERALL |
8/10
emotional and inspiring |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Pioneer DV737 (via S-Video)
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a (Sweeeeet)
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
Subby: M&K V75
- Reviewed 9th March 2001
*Angela's Ashes jpeg files for internet
promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Columbia Tristar
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