December 30, 1999
Web posted at: 3:54 p.m. EST (2054 GMT)

By Reviewer Paul Clinton

(CNN) -- The film adaptation of Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1996 memoir, "Angela's Ashes," begins as the book does, with McCourt's narration.

When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how my brothers and I managed to survive it at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

There you have, in a few strokes of the pen, the summation of one of the best books published in the last decade. In the hands of director Alan Parker, and the remarkable talents of the actors he cast, this summation comes to life on celluloid.

To be sure, it's rough going at times. Poverty, near-starvation, death, casual cruelty and great humiliation pour off the screen. But so does a sense for deep humanity, an enduring spirit and an all-abiding humor in the face of the darkest truths.

The story begins in Depression-era Brooklyn. The McCourt family has landed there after fleeing Ireland, "where there was no work and people were dying of the starvation and the damp."

But with no work to be found in Brooklyn, either, and after the death of one of her children, Angela (Emily Watson) has a nervous breakdown. The family returns to Limerick, and the unwelcoming arms of Angela's stern Catholic family.

Frank's father, Malachy McCourt (Robert Carlyle), is a Protestant from Belfast. And while his drinking could perhaps be overlooked, his religious background cannot. Day after day, he looks for work in the Catholic city of Limerick. And day after day, he fails and turns to the bottle.

More deaths follow as Frank's twin baby brothers also succumb to the cold and the damp. Angela spends her days begging for public assistance, while Frank and his brother try to navigate the tricky ins and outs of Limerick's Catholic school system. At one point, young Frank, struggling with Catholicism, ends "The Lord's Prayer" with the words, "in the name of the father, the son, and the holy toast."

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The story is told from the point of view of an adult Frank looking back on his childhood, and the narration (provided by Andrew Bennett) is Frank's voice from the book. We follow him from age five to 16 and -- as in the book -- his wry observations on life infuse this tale with wit, wisdom and human spirit. Without this poetic voice, "Angela's Ashes" would be an almost impossible film to watch.

Three different actors play Frank and they're all remarkable. Joe Breen, 8, is the son of a County Wexford farmer who answered an ad in The Irish Times. He's a revelation as the youngest Frank. Ciaran Owens, 13, plays the tricky -- and somewhat thankless -- role of the middle Frank. (His brother Eamonn, who also has a small role in this film, played the title role in Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy" in 1997.)

The older Frank, who carries a lot of the film's heavy lifting in terms of the narrative, is played by Michael Legge, who has appeared in a number of films in his native Ireland. This film would have lost all believability if the transitions from one Frank to the next weren't flawless, and thankfully -- within a blink of an eye -- they are.

The three Franks are the stars of this film, but both Watson and Carlyle are critical to the story and both deliver. As Angela, Watson is simultaneously quiet and powerful, subdued and unflinching. This part is not as showy as her two previous Academy Award-nominated roles, in "Breaking the Waves" (1996) or in "Hilary and Jackie" (1998). Nonetheless, she delivers a strong, poignant and ultimately heartbreaking performance.

Likewise, Carlyle underplays his role as the father to the McCourt clan and lets the children take front and center. In the hands of a lesser actor, the part of Malachy could have been unsympathetic and one-dimensional, but Carlyle infuses him with a humble dignity despite his losing battle with the bottle. Somehow we can understand that while Angela and the children don't respect him, they do still love him no matter what.

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Writer-producer-director Parker is no stranger to working with children. His first film, 1975's "Bugsy Malone," featured an entire cast of child actors in a musical takeoff of 1920s-era gangster films. Similarly, this production, due to the age progression of the narrative, required a mind-boggling array of siblings and friends of different ages scattered throughout the movie. Parker pulls it off brilliantly.

This English filmmaker is also familiar with the workings of the Irish working class after making "The Commitments" in 1990, a story about a group of blue-collar Irish musicians in a soul band. But, first and foremost, Parker is known for his strong visuals. There are moments in this film in which he'll break your heart, or take your breath away in a single frame of film.

Parker has surrounded himself with the same collaborators he's used for the last 25 years. His director of photography, Michael Seresin, production designer Geoffrey Kirkland, camera operator Mike Roberts, line producer David Wimbury and editor Gerry Hambling have all helped to define Parker's style over the years. In addition, John Williams' score is moves the action ahead without ever overwhelming it.

Making a widely beloved book into a motion picture is always risky. Ask anyone involved in "The Bonfire of the Vanities" in 1990 or "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" in 1997. Fans of a novel usually have their own little film going on in their heads and it can be impossible to compete with that image. "Angela's Ashes" is a rare example of a film that lives up to the memory of the book.

"Angela's Ashes" opened Christmas Day in New York and Los Angeles and opens across the country on January 14, 2000. The film is rated R with a running time of 145 minutes.