Stone Angel: Margaret Laurence Book Coming To A Theatre Near You

Yesterday, an old friend invited me to watch The Stone Angel which is the feature film adaptation of Margaret Laurence's classic novel. This film will be in Limited Release on May 9th, 2008 and enjoy a wider release on May 23rd.

What an incredibly powerful movie from Canadian director Kari Skogland. The film is true to the book and leaves the viewer marveling at senior citizens.

The witty, irascible and fiercely proud Hagar Shipley escapes from home when her son Marvin and daughter in law Doris try to force her into a retirement home. Hagar sets out on a preposterous journey in search of a way to reconcile herself to her tumultuous past. Vulnerable to an aging brain, it becomes hard for her to differentiate past from present and we come to know her as the passionate and rebellious bride in a remote prairie town whose proud father disowns her when she marries the "wrong sort".

Struggling to get to the safe haven of an abandoned house she remembers near the ocean, Hagar can't stop from reflecting on how her sprawling life was full of twists and joys denied. As her mind wanders in and out of the present, we experience with her the defining moments, hidden passions and characters of her past - her affluent but cold and demanding father whose suffocating love drives her to rebel and marry the opposite of the man he would have chosen for her; her husband Bram Shipley, a man who unleashes her passion for love and life, yet refuses to meet the rigid social standards she is driven by; and the children she bears, sons whose future becomes ruled by the past.