Firm View, Subtle Approach

From the ads showing cherubic children holding hands and a flirty blond riding piggyback on a young boy, it might appear that the film “The Cider House Rules” is just a sweet-natured, coming-of-age story set in the 1940s.

It is a coming-of-age story--but that’s only a part of it. The movie actually deals head-on with incendiary subjects like abortion and incest. Some audience members have come out of the movie theater saying they were unprepared for what they saw.

Unlike “Dogma” and “Citizen Ruth,” movies that tackled religion and abortion with an in-your-face, sardonic boldness, “Cider House” has quietly put forward its controversial message. It is unapologetically in favor of abortion rights without using a bullhorn.

The film has avoided any picketing or negative publicity from anti-abortion groups. This is due, in part, to the film’s marketing but mainly because the filmmakers wanted to convey their message softly, without political baggage.

“I wanted to be as gentle and tasteful as possible without backing off from the message,” said director Lasse Hallstrom.

So far, “Cider House” has done fairly well at the box office; the movie, which cost more than $20 million, has grossed about $21 million so far. Miramax, the film’s distributor, is hopeful the film will garner Oscar nominations next week and help it become a breakout hit. Supporting actor Michael Caine was nominated for a Golden Globe as was author John Irving, who adapted the screenplay from his novel.

Whether in film or real life, the entrenchment of both camps in the abortion debate and the volatility of the issue have made it a topic rarely brought up in movies. Polls show that many Americans are conflicted about the topic and want to see more of a middle ground, but abortion has again become a polarizing topic in the presidential debate, forcing candidates to take extreme positions in either camp.

Nuance and ambiguity was exactly what Hallstrom, Irving and producer Richard Gladstein wanted to convey.

“I would never portray the subject of abortion as morally simple--it’s morally complex,” said Irving, who, nonetheless, advocates abortion rights.

It was also important to the trio that the film receive a PG-13 rating. The filmmakers hope to educate younger audiences about what it was like when abortion was illegal in the U.S., from 1846 to 1973. The filmmakers have also held several screenings for Planned Parenthood members.

“I’m as active as I can be for Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Rights League--that’s my politics and people know that,” Irving said. “But the subject of a novel is the novel, the subject of a film is how good the film is. You can’t harangue people and pretend that you are telling them a story. That is why I left the right-to-life argument out of the movie. I didn’t want to engage in the shrillness of that argument.”

“Cider House” is told through the eyes of a young boy, Homer Wells (played by Tobey Maguire), who is raised in an orphanage by the resident physician, Dr. Wilbur Larch. Homer is unwillingly trained as an obstetrician/gynecologist/abortion provider by Dr. Larch, who notices the young boy’s potential as a doctor.

As he grows older, Homer feels the need to see the world outside the orphanage.

Through his experiences, he realizes that life’s circumstances sometimes force unwanted events--like abortion--to occur.

“He learns that the real world is not all so black and white--it’s very gray,” Gladstein said.

By selling the film as a romantic coming-of-age story, Miramax has deflected some of the obvious negative publicity such a topic could bring. In the television campaign, Michael Caine’s voice-over narration makes the movie sound almost fable-like, with dreamy, uplifting music in the background. The heavy themes in the movie are not alluded to.

But perhaps the most important factor was Hallstrom (“My Life as a Dog”) and Irving’s decision to soften the abortion-rights message, which never dominates the story. As Irving noted in his book “My Movie Business”: “ . . . All of the novel’s crude moments are missing from the movie.” Hallstrom’s film offered no stomach-turning medical procedures; no characters whose internal organs are disintegrating from swallowing aborticides like oil of tansy or turpentine.

The screenplay went through several incarnations and four directors over 13 years, until finally Hallstrom and Miramax signed on to the project. As Irving tells the story, 10 years ago he and the late director Phillip Borsos were working on the screenplay, hoping to persuade Paul Newman to portray Dr. Larch.

That Borsos/Irving screenplay was much more political. As Irving notes in “My Movie Business”: “ ‘Cider House Rules’ was not a love story . . . it was the history of illegal abortion.”

Indeed, Irving said Newman could not stomach scenes in the original screenplay where Homer dumps several aborted fetuses in the orphanage incinerator.

“That was the part that made him [Newman] flinch,” Irving said. “One of the things that Lasse brought to the film, which makes it as good as it is, is that element of softness--which is not inherently mine.”

Hallstrom, who is known for his ability to bring tenderness to a film without making it overly sentimental, said he felt it was essential to keep a balance in the film.

“I didn’t want to make loud statements about it,” Hallstrom said in a telephone interview. “If you really want to make an argument of your case, you cannot be preachy about it. I feared that the pro-life movement might single [the abortion issue] out and taint the movie. But it’s really just one of the themes in the movie.”

So far, abortion opponents have been quiet about the film.

Ambiguity Softens Subject Matter

Jan Carrol, spokeswoman for the California ProLife Council, the largest and oldest anti-abortion group in California, said she has received only one complaint regarding the film. Though she has not seen the movie, she said she is concerned that it may be used to advance the abortion-rights cause. Still, her group is not planning any protests.

In the film, Homer visits the incinerator twice. It is never specifically stated what he is doing there, so the audience is left to wonder. It becomes apparent by Homer’s expression and by previous scenes exactly what he has dumped.

To maintain a balance, Homer’s character becomes, in essence, a living argument against abortion.

In one of the most heated exchanges between Dr. Larch and Homer, the young boy tries to explain his position:

“Try to look at it this way. Buster and I are sitting right here beside you. We could have ended up in the incinerator.”

Dr. Larch responds, “Happy to be alive, under any circumstances--is that your point?”

“Happy to be alive . . . I guess so,” Homer says.

Dr. Larch is an ether addict, a detail Irving wanted to leave in to add dimension to the character. Providing abortions is not a job anybody wants to do.

“I think [Larch] feels overwhelmed by the burden of responsibility,” Irving said. “He has a conscience and he hates doing it. He just believes that it is not his choice.”

As Larch says to Homer when a 12-year-old girl comes to them after suffering a botched abortion, “This is what doing nothing gets you, Homer. It means that someone else is going to do the job--some moron that doesn’t know how.”

The girl dies of an infection. Her uterus has been punctured with what looks like a crochet hook.

The film also tackles another taboo subject--incest--with unusual complexity. Delroy Lindo (“Get Shorty”), who plays a migrant fruit picker named Mr. Rose, was one of the first to sign on to the project. As Irving saw it, Lindo’s portrayal of Mr. Rose, a deeply flawed and troubled man involved in an incestuous relationship, was pivotal to the story. It was important to both Lindo and Irving that Mr. Rose be portrayed as a man, not a monster.

The actions of Lindo’s character are what ultimately force Homer to “be of use,” as Dr. Larch would say. Irving is hopeful that the film’s themes of human vulnerability and the need for compassion will speak to younger audiences.

“I want kids who are most vulnerable to having sex and getting pregnant not only to recognize the humanity of that choice but to recognize historically that it didn’t used to be there,” Irving said.

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“I would never portray the subject of abortion as morally simple--it’s morally complex.”

JOHN IRVING, author of “The Cider House Rules” and writer of the screenplay