THE RE-CREATION OF MISERY IN THE FILM ANGELA'S ASHES

Resumo

This paper starts with news from a Brazilian TV program, which talks about the wealth, in economic and educational terms, of Ireland today. Ireland is one of the most prosperous countries in Europe and descendents of those who had emigrated for a better life are returning to Ireland, the country of their ancestors. The subject matter ofthis paper, however, is the effect of misery and violence upon the McCourt's children while they are growing up in Limerick, south of Ireland, fifty years ago. Angela 's Ashes -a memoir (1996), winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is an autobiographical Bildungsroman. At 67, Frank McCourt recovers the miserable childhood in Limerick, from the 40s to the end of the 50s. The film by Alan Parker (1999) recovers in splendid scenes, and using refined cinematographic techniques, the traumatic experiences ofthe novel. From the beginning to the end, the images are somber, and Limerick, full of images of saints and crucifixes, corroborares, with its destructive damp and lack ofhygiene, the cruelty inherent in íts people, its social system, and the Irish Catholic Church.