Novel/movie written by John Irving.
Brief Synopsis:
Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) has lived in the orphanage at St Clouds, Maine, all his life. Dr Larch (Michael Caine), who runs the place, treats him like a son and trains him to be his successor.
Homer has no proper education and is not sure that he wants to be a doctor. For one thing, he doesn't believe in abortion, which Larch performs illegally to help desperate pregnant girls who seek him out.
The film has two halves, St Clouds and the apple farm. When Candy (Charlize Theron) comes to see Larch with her boyfriend, Wally (Paul Rudd), who is on leave from the war - the year is 1942 - Homer goes away with them, leaving everything he has ever known. "I have never seen the ocean," he tells an incredulous Candy, daughter of a lobster fisherman.
Wally finds him work on his mother's apple farm, where he shares a bunk hut with itinerant labourers, headed by the formidable Mr Rose (Delroy Lindo). What of the rules? They are pinned to the wall, have been there for years, and have little relevance. "We make our own rules, every single day," Mr Rose says. "Ain't that so, Homer?"
This is only the barest outline of a story that encompasses the lives of so many. The performances are exquisite. Caine not only relinquishes his trademark accent, but absorbs the very essence of this lonely, compassionate man, who breaks every rule he pleases.
Maguire (Pleasantville, Ride With The Devil) underplays to perfection. Homer could have been an "Aw shucks!" innocent, with straw in his hair. Instead, he is a watcher, a listener, whose natural sympathy is strengthened by determination and intelligence.
Theron has brains as well as beauty and the children, especially little Erik Per Sullivan, as Fuzzy, the sick one, are an inspiration.