VIFF II Film Review

Michelle Da Silva

The Stone Angel

Canada, 2007, 115 min.

Kari Skogland adapts Margaret Laurence’s beloved Canadian novel for the silver screen and fills it with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. The film follows the sharp and witty Hagar Shipley (played by the magnetic Ellen Burstyn) as she attempts to escape nursing home life — and old age — for the youthful life that she remembers so vividly, wandering in and out of the present.

Set against the vast and timeless Canadian prairie landscape, Hagar develops from a sprightly young girl to a fearless young woman to a proud and hard-working mother. Along the way, she encounters true love (Skogland lends a beautiful eye to rich and swelling romance) and the loss of loved ones. Christine Horne, who plays a young Hagar, brilliantly captures Hagar’s proud and adventurous spirit amidst the hardships of poor farm life. The film also stars rising Canadian star Ellen Page.

Like the novel, Skogland’s film gives an opulent and thoughtful perspective of growing up in the Canadian prairies. However, the film also reminds audiences of the struggles we must come to terms with in our later years and how we reconcile those struggles through memories of family, friends, and a definitive sense of home.