Review

A lilting story with considerable bite, The Cider House Rules packs some very complex issues into an agreeably glossy package. Orphans, unborn babies, race relations, variations on single-parenting and orchard fruit are all woven into a tale as crisp and tart as a perfect apple.

The film, set in New England in the 1930s and ’40s, exudes a sense of time and place, parsed by moral imperatives. Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine in a performance perfectly suited to his talents) runs an orphanage with a sensible, delicately balanced approach to child welfare. With his small, exceedingly devoted staff, the compassionate-if-eccentric Larch builds what we now call “self esteem” in youngsters who have no parents to love and guide them. Larch also performs abortions for young women whose lives — and by extension, those of their unborn children — would be ruined by a pregnancy taken to term.

Adapted for the screen by John Irving from his eponymous novel, the story centers on Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), a protégé of Larch’s who sets out into the world beyond the orphanage to experiment with life and see where his allegiances lie.

Director Lasse Hallstrom gives the material an old-fashioned feel although the themes are really the same as those on American day-time talk shows: “My Own Father Got Me Pregnant,” “I Slept With My Best Buddy’s Girlfriend Behind His Back,” “My Father-Figures Expects Me to Run his Business” and “When is Abortion Both Merciful and Justified?”

Homer sets out to see the world and never makes it out of the state of Maine. You will find yourself invested in his fate, which is the small, rare miracle worthwhile films provide.

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Lisa Nesselson