The movie 'Homer' is the only character that goes through many different transformations. He leaves the orphanage as 'born' and returns to him as a 'man.' 'Larg' and 'Homer' are closer to being a father and son than a teacher and his student. The boys and girls in the orphanage have a very strong bond, as a result of shared experiences in their sense of loneliness and depression. In fact, there are family feelings and strong ties in this orphanage than in other traditional homes. There is also a tremendous emotional feeling every evening when the doctor ' This sentence to orphans: 'Good night, princes of Maine.. Kings of New England.'
Mr. Irving remains a disturbingly facile spinner of yarns in which the most sordid facts of life are glossed over into comfortably didactic homilies about the innate goodness of people. Yet, I was somehow moved...
A softer, kinder version of John Irving's book, which was edgier and more critical, though you can't blame the filmmakers since Irving himself adapted his novel.
