Perhaps one of the biggest hot button topic in today’s politics is abortion. With the recent repeal of Roe vs Wade the right for women to have reproductive freedom and treatment to save the mother or abort a pregnancy because of incest or rape is one of the leading conversations leading into the upcoming U.S. elections. Everybody has an opinion on this topic and virtually everyone vilifies those who have a differing opinion on it. It’s not an easy subject to tackle, especially in a main stream film meant to appeal to the largest possible audience. It’s also difficult to make a film like this without it feeling like you’re preaching to the audience. Because of the sensitivity of the subject matter ratings for the film varied heavily with Ireland taking a firm stance against it, giving it an 18 rating strictly for the themes of abortion, incest and drugs. Ireland had a constitutional ban on abortion at the time that was only lifted after a referendum in 2018. As far as I was able to ascertain, The Cider House Rules has yet to be resubmitted for a new rating there.
There is no doubt that The Cider House Rules is a polarizing film, and not just for the stance on abortion. The majority of the film feels like it just goes around in a circle and ends back where it began. For some, having no point B was a deal breaker. I personally feel that it is the journey, not the destination that matters. Is the journey worth going on, then? I will say this: It is never a boring one and Tobey Maguire, while not the most polished of actors, is likable enough to get me on his character’s side early on and keep me there through a film that needed a some judicious alterations.
The movie opens in the 1940’s at St. Cloud’s, a Maine orphanage overseen by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine). The oldest orphan at residence is Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), a young man who was twice adopted and returned; the first time because he was too quiet and the second time because the adoptive family beat him. Dr. Larch is addicted to ether, and he secretly performs illegal abortions. The orphanage has little resources but is heavy on love with the older children caring and protecting the younger ones.
Homer has grown up to be even tempered and smart and Dr. Larch has trained him in obstetrics and abortions as an apprentice despite Homer having no formal schooling. Homer, while proficient at these medical duties, objects to the abortions and refuses to perform them. Larch hopes that someday soon Homer will take over for him as the main physician at the orphanage but Homer wants to see the world and experience life away from the only place he has ever known. He gets his chance when one day Wally (Paul Rudd) and Candy (Charlize Theron) arrive requesting an abortion. Wally is in the war and home on leave, visiting his girlfriend. Dr. Larch performs the procedure for her. Afterwards, Homer asks if he can go with them when they leave and they agree. Wally’s mother, Olive (Kate Nelligan), owns the Worthington family apple orchard and Homer takes a job alongside the migrant workers picking apples and making cider. Once Wally returns to the war, Candy, unable to cope with the loneliness, begins a relationship with Homer that quickly turns physical.
Meanwhile, back at the orphanage, Dr. Larch has forged documents to indicate that Homer attended medical school and is a full fledged doctor. He convinces the orphanage board to pursue this promising young doctor to be his replacement and has been writing Homer repeatedly in an attempt to bring him back home. Homer refuses again and again, insisting that he is no doctor. This assessment will be challenged, though, when the migrant workers return at the beginning of a new season and Rose Rose (Erykah Badu), daughter of Arthur Rose (Delroy Lindo), is pregnant by her own father. Homer performs an abortion on her, sparing her from having a child of incest. Afterwards, upon hearing that Dr. Larch has died from an overdose of ether, he returns to the orphanage to take over Larch’s duties.
Michael Caine has turned in some amazing performances over a career that has spanned more than seventy years. It was truly a loss to cinema lovers the world over when he announced last year that he was officially retiring from acting at the ripe old age of 90. He is a true treasure of the silver screen and his absence has been felt ever since. This is amongst his finest performances, selling the emotional turmoil and physical weaknesses of Dr. Larch. So much of this relies on Caine getting us on his side which can be a bit of a challenge if you disagree with him on his stance on abortions, especially when it isn’t always in service of incest or rape. He rationalizes that if he doesn’t perform them, the women will go to someone else who doesn’t know what they are doing instead. His mindset on this topic has been colored by having to take care of the abandoned and orphaned children, especially Fuzzy, a young child born premature to an alcoholic mother and suffers from respiratory disease, spending most of his life beneath a plastic tent ventilated with a breathing apparatus. Seeing all of this and all of these children raised without any parents has definitely colored his opinion on abortion. Performing these abortions illegally, as well as his womanizing, drug addiction and all the other illegal things he does to keep Homer around make it an uphill battle for our sympathies.
Homer Wells is a bit of a blank slate making it especially difficult for Tobey Maguire to give us something to latch onto. He has never left the orphanage, aside from his brief stints with adoptive families. He has no concept of the real world beyond the walls of the orphanage so, when he goes off with Wally and Candy, it becomes a series of eye-opening experiences that will ultimately just push him back to the orphanage, again. Is this then to be considered a tragedy that he ends up back where he started? Perhaps. But watching this film I wasn’t convinced that he would remain put after having seen even a small portion of the world outside those walls. Maybe he will, or maybe he’ll get restless and leave again.
John Irving adapted his own novel when writing the screenplay for this one. It feels at times like his script is a reaction to what happened the previous decade when his book The World According to Garp was released. That film felt unnecessarily long and unwieldy at times. In The Cider House Rules it feels like everything from the book was crammed into the movie and, consequently, there isn’t enough time to properly develop any of it. The relationship between Candy and Homer feels rushed and lacks chemistry. Candy as a character is so underdeveloped that Charlize has nothing to work with and is wasted in a role that could have been played by anyone. Her decision in the end is poorly conveyed and feels more like a plot contrivance than anything else. It’s abrupt and unsatisfying. Consequently, even though the film feels rushed at times, it also feels like it needs trimming, too.
The Cider House Rules is a good film that falls short of greatness. Realistically it would have benefitted from having someone other than the book’s author writing the script, someone willing to be more judicious on what to include and what to cut. It’s still an enjoyable movie and one that will stick in your memory for a long time afterwards. Watching it today I was surprised at how much I still remembered of it from my single viewing during its initial theatrical release. It’s the type of film that is easy to follow and has some interesting things to say about some very dark subjects. It could have been so much more than that, though. Still, looking at that year’s list of best picture nominations, it is easily the second best, being bested only by the far superior, and equally controversial for much different reasons, American Beauty.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Richard N. Gladstein
Best Director: Lasse Hallström
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Caine (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay: John Irving (won)
Best Film Editing: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Best Original Score: Rachel Portman
Best Production Design: David Gropman and Beth Rubino
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Release Date: December 10, 1999
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Michael Caine, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Kieran Culkin, Heavy D, Kate Nelligan and Erykah Badu
Directed By: Lasse Hallström
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