You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

The Cider House Rules

This is one of those movies that can make me cry just thinking about it. An excellent adaptation from the novel (as it should be, since the author wrote the screenplay). A movie full of great lines. A great, non-preachy social issues movie. And a musical score that makes your heart ache.


Right wing naysayers have called it "a movie about abortion", but this is rather devastatingly missing the point. It is, first and foremost, a coming-of-age story. A story about growing up and making hard choices.

Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) grows up in an orphanage in Maine and becomes a special favorite of Dr. Larch (Michael Caine), who runs it. The orphanage is also a part hospital, and Dr. Larch delivers babies and takes care of the unwanted kids. He also performs abortions. He teaches Homer everything he knows, but Homer is very much opposed to the practice of abortion. Of course, the story is set in the 1930s, so abortion is still illegal. But Homer's concerns are more moral than legal. Dr. Larch sees things differently - he gives the poor girls what they want, no questions asked.

One of the most moving things about the film is Larch's relationship with the orphans, and Homer in particular. It simply rips your heart out to watch the kids spruce themselves up when a couple comes to pick a child to adopt. Every night, Dr. Larch reads to the boys, and he leaves them with the same parting words: "Good night, you princes of Maine. You kings of New England." *sobs* The kids also have Movie Night every week or so. They only have one movie they watch over and over again, but it's King Kong, so the kids love it. A particularly sick boy, Fuzzy, theorizes that Kong loves Ann so much because he thinks she's his mother. :)

But eventually, Homer decides he needs to strike out on his own. He hitches a ride with Wally (Paul Rudd) and Candy (Charlize Theron), who have come seeking Dr. Larch's services. He gets to see the ocean for the first time, and gets a job with Wally's family picking apples on their apple farm. He stays in the cider house with the other workers and gets to know them. And while Wally goes off to war, Homer and Candy grow much closer.

The "cider house rules" are a metaphor for the rules of life, and they find their manifestation in the story when Homer decides to perform his first abortion. This is treated very seriously in the film, and the message is fairly clear - that there are some things in the world (like abortion) that you may not agree with, but sometimes one of those things turns out to be the lesser of two evils. That there are some things that have to be left to personal judgement rather than a moral absolute.

And the score - wow. I fell in love with Rachel Portman when I heard her Emma score. This one actually sounds a good bit like Emma, but there's such a bittersweet feel to the innocent melodies.

Such a wonderful movie, all the way through to it's perfect ending.

Tomorrow's entry will be late in the evening, as I'm going out of town and won't have internet until late tomorrow night.