Angela’s+Ashes+–+an+analysis

//Angela’s Ashes // – an analysis. The characters don’t just suffer internal, but there’s a problem both ways. Ireland is a land where the wealth isn’t first priority and people without job is starving and struggles with having a roof over their head. The main conflict in Angela’s Ashes is that Frank McCourt doesn’t have anyone to look up to. Because of the environments and the surroundings the main character is in, the life doesn’t get any easier. The poverty pursues Frank and his family all the time - they never got out of it. Frank could never look at his dad as a good example to live up to, because of the alcohol and job problems. When the father in the house finally finds a job and they hope for the first pay check in months, their father does what he always do, drank all the money and leaves them with nothing, just a poor father that never provides his family. So the internal-problem is influenced as well as the external-problem is influencing it. When Frank’s dad left, he didn’t even have someone to take the role of fatherhood. So Frank started to develop and to get much more mature. So he got very independent. Frank’s mother has a lot on her mind. She has lost three children, and although she doesn’t show the pain, we think it’s still there. And because of the pain she carries on, Frank doesn’t get much support from her. // The Hopes of a mother, the Dreams of a father, and the Fate of a child. // There is an exciting tension throughout the whole movie. The characters meet challenges and conflicts, and there’s always a pain and sorrow in the family. They have to struggle with poverty, something that always keeps the challenges going, like keeping the children alive. They never have enough money to keep the newborns alive, so they pass away shortly after birth. At the same time the father drinks up the little amount of money that he earns or that the family gets in support. Frank’s relationship with his father is tense. He loves him, but at the same time he hates him. When the father leaves, the problems certainly get worse. The most dramatic moment is when Frank runs away, and that is when the movie is on top of the tensioncurve. From then on everything happens at once and the movie takes an unexpected turn. Young Frank finally gets the money that he needs to go to America and all of the problems, worries and misery finally fade away and we move on to a happy ending. There is a teller in the story-Frank McCourt The story is told through the eyes of one of the main characters called Frank McCourt and it’s through his eyes the story unfolds. The story is told in first person “I” The story is not told through an off-screen narrator. But it is a distance, because he is telling as a man. And the story is while he is a boy. “Angela’s ashes” is a story told through the eyes of Frank McCourt. He’s telling the story in first person “I” and it’s with him as an off-screen narrator the story unfolds. Frank Mccourt is the oldest son of the Mccourt family. Considering he’s a child, he develops rapidly through the movie. There were three different boys playing Frank Mccourt in the movie. A small Frank Mccourt, a medium Frank Mccourt, and a almost grown up Frank Mccourt. His way of speaking emphasizes the fact that they are living in the slum of Ireland, and the narrator speaks of Frank as “I”. His physical appearance is bad. If you see the movie, you’ll notice that he’s practically dirty all the time. The filth on his clothes and his face has got the same colour as everything else, a kind of brown-greyish colour. He’s not a static character, he changes nearly all the time through the movie, and he develops by the end of the story. It’s shown through the movie that Frank’s got a talent for writing. It shows for the first time when he’s set back one grade because of sickness. He’s got to write an essay about “if Jesus came to Limerick”. When the teachers read it, they though it was so good, that they put him back into his old class. Later it shows again when he’s hired by the street’s loan shark to write threatening letters. He’s not a stereotype. Atleast not one I can think of. He’s a very believeable character. Malachy Mccourt – Malachy is a stereotypical alcoholic. The other characters are always speaking down on him, because he can’t support his family properly. It’s mentioned many times through the movie that Malachy can’t get a job because of his northern accent. She speaks with respect and caring most of the time. Angela feelings lie with her sons, and are her first priority. She acting like a normal mother She is the same most of the time in the whole movie. Angela is a catholic Christian. Frank often reacts harshly to the measures Angela takes to help her family, condemning her for begging outside a church and later for sleeping with Laman Griffin. However, despite Frank’s hostility to some of her decisions, it is clear that Angela is simply struggling to cope under highly difficult and painful circumstances. McCourt makes it clear that Angela’s first priority is her sons’ welfare. There is a lot of sad music in this film, cause of the scenes and the sorrow that the film has. There is a lot of accentuated sound of each scene they almost cut out the music so you could hear the sounds of boys and those sounds around them. The soundtrack futures a lot of sad songs, but some happy too, which are displayed in those happy moments. They use not always just music but music sounds like just the music without the vocals. The atmosphere of the movie is reflected in the soundtrack. -  The setting takes place in the past, during Frank`s childhood. The setting describes Frank true but horrible childhood. We don’t see a lot of the future when he travels to America. -  The setting of time is both night and day; they give us the story as it was written. The weather is the Limericks worst its almost always raining, but in some scenes we see that the rain has stopped. The environment is scenes are hard, they show us the most poor side of that time, they show us how the poor lived and how they handled their lives without much money. -  The geographical parts are shown with some of the most beautiful places in Limerick; you can see old buildings, and old gates. -  The time of the day varies from time to time, the darkest time of their lives are almost always shown in a dark and cold night. -  Trailer : the soundtrack in the trailer give us a description of poor and sadness. The sound begin first with a simple piano, and a voice start to tell about how he thought he survived the childhood. This give us a feeling of sympathy with these kids.. in the end of this trailer the music are build up by the experience. And the soundtrack is powerful and satisfying. The film are trying to focus on the dark colors in every corner of the movie. It shows a scene were Frank and Malachy run trough the rain.. It was all wet, and when they come home the can’t change cloths.. The colours used in this film, the colours of the boy’s surroundings, are very dull and grey, dark and sombre. They seem to reflect the general mood of the film, and the colours add to the impression of disheartenment and poverty which hang over Limerick. It’s like the rain and the damp of Limerick, have bleached the city and everything in it. The substance is sucked out of it. Imagery which adds to the mood, and tends to strengthen certain impressions, is the mist and the rain that constantly haunt the city. The mist is an indication of cold, and the watcher knows that the cold can kill and torture people. Especially people who can’t afford proper clothing and housing. The mist and the rain are therefore ever-looming threats to the McCourts, and one feels an extra sting of sympathy with the McCourts every time the mist rolls in over the green fields. The river of Limerick, the Shannon, is shown in several shots, and always from the same point of view. It is a silent reminder of the misery in which the city is sunk deep in. As Frank’s father says: “It’s the Shannon which makes the whole of the city damp, and the river carries the consumption with it.” The river is a symbol of disease and death, and could be seen as a symbol of an impending disaster. In the end of the film, Frank gets hold of Mrs. Finogan’s book of debt and money-lending, and he throws it into the river Shannon, this is a strong scene, with musical build-up, and it shows that Frank is strong enough to twist the great “evil” of the river to his own purposes. It’s a great picture: Finally Frank victors over the poverty which he has fought his whole life – he has become rich and is soon heading for America. Scene sequences were long to create a calm and intelligent story. The camera was in many scenes showing what was going on around the scene, so that we could have a good idea and a good view how the environment they lived in was. In the scene where the father of the family gets a job, the camera is used in various ways. In the following morning, close-ups of the family show emotion and hope, but then when the night comes, the close-ups show crushed hope and betrayed trust. The use of a high-angle is employed to catch all of the surroundings, and to show the poverty around the family. Also, when the father comes home late and is drunk, whereupon he collapses at the stairs, a low-angle is employed, giving us view up the staircase to the father’s downfall. The movie has a dark effect through the whole movie you get a feeling of a dramatization from the old days, and gives sets focus on poorness. Black and blue is dominant colours. A co-operation between the editor, Gerry Hambling and the director, Alan Parker. The editing of the film was mostly “fade-out”, “fade-in” and “black out” All of these punctures sets the mood and atmosphere of the audience and gives a feeling of poorness and sadness. A reality made in to a movie which has poorness and sadness, it is a charitable society and it is accepted as a fact, and they know the can’t do anything to lift them out of their misery, but it also shows that if you really want something you can get it.
 * The Conflict in Angela’s Ashes **
 * Plot and Structure **
 * Narrator and point of view **
 * Characterization: **
 * Frank Mccourt: **
 * Angela McCourt ** is a loving mother and has a good sense of humor. She is appointed, and caring.
 * Soundtrack : **
 * 1) Theme from "Angela's Ashes" – 6:18
 * 2) "My Story" – 2:19
 * 3) "Angela's Prayer" – 4:47
 * 4) "My Dad's Stories" – 1:55
 * 5) "Lord, Why Do You Want the Wee Children" – 4:03
 * 6) "Plenty of Fish and Chips in Heaven" – 3:41
 * 7) "The Dippsy Doodle" – 1:30
 * 8) "The Lanes of Limerick" – 3:37
 * 9) "My Dad" – 3:31
 * 10) "Pennies from Heaven" – 2:11
 * Performed by Billie Holiday
 * 1) "My Mother Begging" – 3:46
 * 2) "If I Were in America" – 2:34
 * 3) "Delivering Telegrams" – 2:23
 * 4) "I Think of Teresa" – 1:50
 * 5) "Angels Never Cough" – 2:38
 * 6) "Watching the Eclipse" – 3:00
 * 7) "Back to America" – 2:38
 * 8) "End Credit Reprise" – 6:16
 * Setting **
 * Imagery: **
 * Use of the Camera: **
 * Lightning **
 * Editing **
 * Theme **