The Cider House Rules (1999)

The Cider House Rules, a 1999 nominee for Best Picture, is yet another example of just how wrong Hollywood gets it sometimes. How can you take a story about abortion, incest, drug abuse, medical malpractice, racism, class struggle, and orphanages (just to name a few of the controversial topics it covers) and turn it into this bland of a film? Put it through the Hollywood grinder, obviously. Then you need to get it undeservedly nominated for a number of awards so that it looks like a prestigious film.

Tobey Maguire plays Homer Wells, an orphan who grows up to be the protégé of the doctor who delivered him, Dr. Wilbur Larch (played with his usual gusto by Michael Caine). Homer quickly learns that the good doctor is not only helping young women who wish to give their children up for adoption at the orphanage; he's also performing abortions, which were illegal at the time in the state of Maine. After having a crisis of conscience, Homer leaves the orphanage and finds work as an apple picker. In fact, he begins working for the fiancé of the girl he eventually falls in love with. The fiancé is played by Paul Rudd, who conveniently disappears for most of the movie while his character is serving in the military (so nice to have those pesky distractions out of the way). The girl is played by Charlize Theron. Of course, Homer is going to fall in love with her. Who wouldn’t fall in love with such a beautiful woman who’s left all alone after having an abortion?

While working on the apple farm and living in the "cider house" with several African Americans who are also hired to do the seasonal work of picking apples, Homer learns about more of life's dark secrets. For example, Mr. Rose, played by Delroy Lindo with enormous gravity, is sexually assaulting his daughter, the imaginatively named Rose Rose, played by Erykah Badu (who is quite a find as an actress). Homer volunteers to use the skills he has learned while "interning" with Dr. Larch to solve Rose's problem. In fact, he merely creates more problems. This pattern keeps getting repeated throughout the film.

I thought the John Irving novel upon which the movie is based was daring and enlightening. It took chances and made you, at times, not like some of the main characters or their actions. The movie seems to take too few of those chances. There are far too many scenes about the complexity of the decisions that characters must make so that we will feel sympathetic toward them. There’s always a “reason” for why someone behaves the way that she/he does. It's just a bit too pat, frankly, to match the depth of this subject matter.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the look of the film. It's beautifully shot, gorgeous cinematography, just the way you want a film about incest and abortion to look. I was reminded of the criticisms leveled at The Color Purple all those years ago, about how a tale of spousal abuse was somewhat "glorified" by the golden light in which it was shot. Well, Spielberg's film has nothing on The Cider House Rules in that department.

I'm sure that I (and the members of the Academy) must have seen plenty of films during 1999 that would be more worthy nominees for Best Picture than this film. I suppose the Miramax publicity machine was at its greatest strength in those days. Otherwise, I can't really explain how this film is included as one of the five best for that year.