Film #38: The Cider House Rules


Tonight I tried to redeem myself by watching one of the all time great films, The Cider House Rules. With Oscars won for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Best Writing, and Nominations in Art Direction, Direction, Editing, Original Score, and Best Picture, this film has some serious pipes.

Right off the bat, I liked this movie. The opening scene starts off with scenery of the Main countryside coupled with credits, as some films choose to do, but with this film, the Oscar Nominated score created by Rachel Portman is playing in the background. If you have never listened to The Cider House Rules soundtrack, I would recommend it. The soft notes played by oboes and pianos offer an innocence to life that can only be found in 1943 Maine.

The plot of the story follows Homer Wells, an orphan who has grown up in the orphanage his entire life, looking after the newer orphans that come in. Homer was lovingly taken in by the Orphanage’s head caretaker, Wilber Larch, who taught Homer everything he knows about being a doctor and a gynecologist. One day, Homer decides to leave with a couple who came to the orphanage for the procedure, and begins working on an apple farm. Homer begins a love interest on the farm and, well, that becomes complicated.

I loved this movie. I think any movie that illustrates a simpler time in our nations history stirs something strange inside of me; almost a yearning. Sure there were horrible things happening back then just as there are today, but at the same time Cider House Rules caters to a time when you could pack up everything you own, get a job on an apple farm, meet a girl, and fall in love. It was a different time indeed.

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