Movie Review: The Whale Will Leave You In Tears
We have all heard of emotional eaters, and I am one of them. Personally, my whole life has been defined by diets and the momentous binges, in between them, that were fueled by guilt, doubt, and fear. When you are big, the world makes sure you know it, and is divided between people that go out of their way to ¨save¨ you or others who want you to know that you are destroyed. It is cruel, and, in The Whale, Brendan Fraser delivers a powerful, palpable performance as a good guy who has been mistreated by so many, including himself.
¨I have accept that my life will not be exciting,¨ said a student to Fraser’s Charlie: an English teacher that pretends his camera is broken so as to hide from his online students: a move I can say I have done. In this world, we attribute fat with ugly, unhealthy, and, simply, inhuman. The thing is it is hard not feel like these words are also emotional like, you do not just ¨look¨ ugly…. you feel it. It is for this reason, I feel everybody cries with Fraser’s performance; he captures how ugly you have to feel, inside, to abuse yourself on the outside.
Suffering from a congestive heart condition, Samuel D. Hunter’s writing makes it clear that could have gone to the hospital or, at least, gone for some treatment. Instead, he relies on the loyalty, love, and mutual grief of Hong Chau´s Liz, whom is rightfully being nominated for her blended performance of someone who adores his pure heart but could easily slap him for his negative mind. The sweetness of Charlie is to be treasured, which is why it is hard to watch him hate himself, and give into the trauma of loss, isolation, and the sheer sadness of knowing the latter quote is kind of true…. life is not the most exciting journey. Yet, our greatest hope is that we can meet people that excite us, and that their loss does not crush our faith others will come to spark us, as well. Enter Sadie Sink´s Ellie, rebellious daughter whose embattled and embittered by her hyper-awareness that people really do abandon you.
Depression is real, and you would be a fool to believe that in abandoning yourself to grief you have not, in some ways, abandoned everyone who loves you despite your self-loathing. Ellie can be mean and the most annoying version of teen angst, but you get it. She is witnessing her father, who left her as a child, in some ways, leave her again by his choice to not get healthy. He may smile and try to help her with her English homework, but he is in visible pain, and ignores it to say a final goodbye to her. Yet, why say goodbye?
I think the most painful part of watching The Whale is that, at times, I could not deny my own patterns of self-destruction. Originally a play, Hunter’s cript had some semi-autobiographical notes capturing his time as both a teacher and a gay man that has struggled with his weight and sexuality. Set in a claustrophobic apartment in the middle of nowhere with no set time, The Whale radiates the hurt and self-sabotage that swells when no one can help you through your inner turmoil, and you get so tired of carrying it that you too stop helping you.
