The Cider House Rules

1999 "A story about how far we must travel to find the place where we belong."
7.4| 2h6m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 17 December 1999 Released
Producted By: Miramax
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.miramax.com/movie/the-cider-house-rules/
Info

Homer is an orphan who was never adopted, becoming the favorite of orphanage director Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer, who becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. What will Homer learn about life and love in the cider house? What of the destiny that Dr. Larch has planned for him?

Genre

Drama

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Director

Lasse Hallström

Production Companies

Miramax

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The Cider House Rules Audience Reviews

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
Hitchcoc This film takes a premise and lets its characters move in and out of it along the way. Each of the characters is fully developed and has baggage and ambitions. Nothing is black and white. That's the strength of John Irving, who gave us Gary, and has not stopped since. In this film, which takes place on an apple orchard, we have people coming and going. Some are there to be protected. Others are there because of the promise of an abortion. However, life keeps going on around them. War come and goes. People are whole, then disabled or fragmented. I'd forgotten that Toby Maguire appeared in this film as the protagonist. He is quite marvelous in it, with a simple innocence and a past that is humbling. Also, one can bank on Michael Caine to deliver the goods. I'm sure some will see this film as painful, but so is life. Life brings smiles and life brings grimaces. Life brings joys and life brings pain. A fine film made from a fine book.
MartinHafer "The Cider House Rules" is a very well-crafted film. The acting is generally quite good, the music terrific and the story interesting...though also depressing as can be and a bit repellent. The story is set in two places--at a god-awful orphanage and at an orchard nearby.When the story begins, you learn from the Doctor (Michael Caine) that little Homer was adopted and returned twice...and so the Doctor has raised him himself and taught this teen to be a doctor. And so, in this world of "makin' your own rules", he has the young man deliver babies and even observe abortions...though Homer thinks abortions are wrong. Of course, you KNOW that this will come back to haunt him later...after he leaves the orphanage to inexplicably become an apple-picker. Dying kids who cannot breathe, abortions, abandoned babies, incest and murder---this film is the ultimate in awfulness. Enjoyable it clearly is not...though the film did win two Oscars. One, oddly, was for Michael Caine. While I love Caine, in this film his accent was just bizarre...yet he got the award. I assume it was like John Wayne's win for "True Grit"...not one of his best performances but given more for his body of work than anything else. I could see the film's technical merits but found it about as enjoyable as chewing on glass.
yelintao Growing up in an orphanage, Homer always wonders what the outside world looks like. Despite the affection he received inside the orphanage, he insists on exploring the world outside. During the time outside experiencing life, he gradually realized the fact that the orphanage is the place where he belongs to. This is the aspect in the story that fascinates me. We grow up in some place and become familiar with this particular place. It is this familiarity that leads us to forget how good this place is and how deeply we are connected with the place. Only by leaving the place can we realize our deeply attachment with the place. Some of the most touching poems in ancient China is about poets' nostalgia. Homer is lucky because in the movie, he finally come back to the orphanage and become the director of the orphanage. I hope that some day I will come to realize the place where I want to come back to and spend the rest of my life.
kolimba Homer is among many of the orphans in Dr. Larch's orphanage, Homer has was to be adopted twice when young but ended back in the orphanage becoming one of the oldest orphans there and Dr. Larch's favorite. Dr. Larch taught homer all medical knowledge he possessed, who becomes a skilled doctor but unlicensed. Homer wondered what life outside the orphanage would be like so when Wally and Candy visit the orphanage for an abortion Homer leaves with them and ended up working for Wally's family apple farm. Wally takes off to war leaving his girlfriend Candy and Homer at the cider house, where Homer learns a lot about love and life, in the end he returns to the orphanage to carry on Dr. Larch's work. One of the themes present in the film is, rules have different interpretations depending on the situation. In the film Homer was always against abortion, because it was the rule. But towards the end of the film he ended up performing an abortion himself. Some of the techniques which makes this film a good film includes the transitions between scenes and how the movie is shot. In this film you don't get to see jumps between scenes, they use ease you in to a scene and ease you out it using smooth transitions. A good example is the scene where Homer and Dr. Larch read letter that they wrote to one another, you can see how they switch from one scene to the other and also utilizing a montage like technique where time moves faster and they basically move you from one season to another. Cider house rules is a good film that really shows how important other aspects of the film making process are important in making the film good. The story is somewhat generic but how the story is presented is wonderful, it's simple but elegant. when you start watching the film it's a complete experience with beautiful music and dialogue, and the story feels complete, with techniques like montage they provide a lot of information in a short scene which helps connect the dots and make the film complete.