Entertainment

MARATHON MANITOBA

DESPITE a terrific lead performance by Ellen Burstyn, Kari Skogland’s epic “The Stone Angel” is a lesson in the perils of trying to cram a hefty Canadian novel that spans decades into a movie running just under two hours.

Burstyn plays a 90-year-old Manitoba widow who flees to her former farm when her long-suffering son (an excellent Dylan Baker) is forced to put her in a nursing home. A long series of flashbacks details her unhappy marriage to his father, a drunken redneck she wed to defy the wealthy Scottish father who disinherited her.

The husband is portrayed at different ages stretching back to the early 20th century by real-life father and son Wings and Cole Hauser. Christine Horne does an uncanny job of playing Burstyn’s character as a young woman, and Ellen Page has a couple of scenes as the unfortunate girlfriend of Burstyn’s younger, more favored son (Kevin Zegers).

“The Stone Angel” is a handsome production with great period detail. It’s fun watching Burstyn, and there are some nice scenes, but unfortunately the decades fly by without more than a superficial understanding of the characters.

Running time: 115 minutes. Rated R (sex, profanity). At the Empire and the Sunshine.