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What
is misery?
Angela's ashes
In recent chats that I had with some groups of students that
have classes with me I was telling them that we don't know
exactly what means to be poor or rich. As members of the middle
class, we face misery or poverty so many times throughout
our existences, but we surely can't say that we have an absolute,
sincere or even minimum comprehension of this phenomena. The
same statement can be made about the opposite world, where
the millionaires live, very rich people for whom everything
is possible, no matter which price is indicated on the tag.
Many students Said that they knew or met rich people. The
kind of person that have a lot of money in a bank account
and that are enabled to fill checks with numbers that do not
fit in the ones that we, poor mortals, can write. I argued
that those people that they knew were in a privileged economic
state or condition, that they were entrepreneurs, owners of
successful comercial/industrial establishments or rich farmers
that, despite all progress and good fortune, couldn't be compared
to really rich people. I stated that we don't know people
that have crossed the line between high middle class and richness…
What made me really sad, on the other side, was that I noticed
that no one among them said that met or knew poor or miserable
people. Even though we walk on the street and pass by beggars,
have very humble people working as maids in their houses,
see abandoned children on the traffic lights of the big cities
selling candies and many other situations and circunstances
in which our stable and comfortable world meets with hunger,
loneliness, fear, cold and other misfortunes proper to the
ones that live bellow minimum conditions, without the basic
needs of humanity.
We watch the news on television, read articles on newspapers
and magazines, watch movies that represent a close Idea to
what means living and surviving with so little and, still,
we don't have an approximate idea of what is like to be poor,
to be miserable.
To solve the dilemma I searched in dictionaries the words
that could help us understand and allow a better comprehension
of the phenomena.
Misery
noun (pl. -ies) 1 great suffering of the mind or body. 2 very
poor living conditions. 3 something that causes great suffering
of mind or body.
Poverty noun 1 the state of being poor: conditions
of abject/extreme poverty. 2 lack of something; poor quality.
I perceive that the words carry strong conceptions which connect
the meaning of misery and poverty to lackness, pity, dreadfull
conditions, undignified state and imperfection. I think about
each one of this words and feel that, even though they are
very meaningful, I can't understand what it means not to have
a house to protect ourselves, spending hours and days without
being fed decently, being a victim of violence, being scared
and feeling unsecure and, because of that, reacting in an
aggressive or violent way, seing other human beings with suspicion,
and being seen with indifference…
"Angela's
ashes", movie made by Alan Parker (director that produced
great films such as "Midnight Express", "Pink
Floyd - The Wall", "Angel Heart",...), makes
us shake and tremble, expose our feelings to extreme poverty,
worsened by alcoholism and abandonment, by the absence of
solidarity and by the ambition of moneylenders (jobbers).
It leads us to a miserable universe and tries, even though
the dreadful conditions, give us hope, show some lights in
the end of the tunnel, awake our sensibility… Very touchy!
The
film
When family McCourt is presented to us, we see children in
a dirty inhabit, with no food at all, the father is unemployed
and with no perspectives and the mother tries hardly no to
go crazy because of everything that is happening around her.
To feed the children they count with the good will of a neighbour,
that shelters the ragamuffins, some of them almost naked and
all of them in the need of a good bath.
When some of their relatives came to their house, they were
oriented to go back to their country, Ireland, and to leave
their american dream (would it be a nightmare?). They failed
on it. They look the New York Harbor from the boat and sadly
say goodbye to the Statue of Liberty. Leave behind a land
of opportunities that represented to them death and defeat.
They buried one of their sons in America and, with him, all
their hopes. Maybe at home, close to their families, they
could have a better luck…
We were living the 1930's. Tough years, distinguished by a
world recession never lived before. This crisis began with
the crack of the New York stock market, in 1929. The misery
that was supossed to affront the conscience and heart of men
was a normal condition. There were so many poor and unemployed
people that no one seemed to care about it, everybody was
distant, each one was trying to solve their own dramas, needs
and difficulties.
Go
back to Ireland didn't provide to the McCourts a better situation.
Angela McCourt (Emily Watson) continues living in a state
of disgrace and, to worsen it, can't count with her husband's
contribution to get better. Malachy McCourt (Robert Carlyle)
is a good hearted man that shows love and affection for his
children and wife, but he is weak and is losing his battle
against alcoholism. Besides that, he is always unemployed,
getting some money from temporary jobs. The major problem
is that a good parcel of this money is spent in his vice and
can't help Angela feed her children…
Their hardness increase more when the family is abandoned
by the father. He went to England to search for better opportunities
and doesn't come back neither sends money. The oldest son,
Frank McCourt (performed by three different actors so that
he can be shown as a child, a teenager and as an adult), since
his youngest years of age called to be responsible for his
brothers and a distinguished student at school becomes, then,
the hope of the family…
Strong
and with a dense theme, "Angela's ashes" is one
of those movies that thrills and make us think, mobilize our
emotions and react. Watch it!
For
teachers
1- I always hear criticism about the brazilian movies
because of the productions that shows our poverty, violence,
abandoned children or any other miseries. These people say
that Brazil's image in foreing countries is the worst that
is possible because of movies like "Central Station"
or "City of God". They argue that in the movies
we should show our natural beauties, our material and human
wealthiness, our cultural diversity. Aren't they trying to
hide themselves from daily happenings of our country? "Angela's
ashes" shows how other countries had already lived situations
like that and alerts us to the fact that some others live
in more critical conditions. When we present our wounds and
problems aren't we claiming for solutions, asking for medicines,
for actions taken by the society and/or the government? What
other actions can we take, what other opportunities are there
for us to talk freely about our pains?
2-
To perceive poverty and misery is a foundamental action for
us to get in touch with these problems and to make us do something
to overcome it, even partialy and in a local condition (in
the town we live in). Ask your students to research the poor
areas of your city. Interview people and verify their life
conditions and difficulties. Talk about the help that is given
to them by government or private organizations. After all
of that, question your students about practical actions which
the group can take to aid those communities.
3-
One of the most interesting projects regarding dignity and
poor citizens rights turned out to be a book made by brazilian
journalist Gilberto Dimenstein (the book is called "Cidadão
de Papel" which means "Paper Citizen"). Ask
your students to read books like that, related to your reality
in a few years ago (a decade, for example), so that they can
find out if the life conditions of poor people in your country
have changed or if it is still in the same way. Stimulate
comparisons between the field research they made and what
is written in the books they are reading and studying.
4-
Try to find how private organizations that fight
against hunger, misery or poverty act in your country. Verify
if the government has social assistance programs that help
the poor people. Look out for statistics that show informations
of those problems in the country you live in.
João Luís Almeida Machado
Master Degree in Education, Arts and History of Culture (Universidade
Presbiteriana Mackenzie, in São Paulo); Professor at
Faculdade Senac in Campos do Jordão; Middle and High
School teacher; writes weekly columns for the website Planeta
Educação
Send e-mails, comments, suggestions and critics for:
profjoaoluis@planetaeducacao.com.br
Technical Information
Angela's ashes
Country/year of production:- USA/Ireland,
1999
Length of time/Gender:- 120 min., Drama
Director: Alan Parker
Screenwriter: Laura Jones e Alan Parker
Cast:- Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe
Breens, Ciaran Owens,
Michael Legge, Ronnie Masterson, Pauline McLynn, Liam Carney.
Links
-
http://www.cineguia.com.br/index.shtml?cod_filme=CNA0088&rg=0
(Portuguese)
- http://e-pipoca.cidadeinternet.com.br/filmes_zoom.cfm?id=343
(Portuguese)
- www.adorocinema.com/filmes/cinzas-de-angela/cinzas-de-angela.htm
(Portuguese)
- http://www.angelasashes.com
(English)
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