The Whale
Let me preface the review by saying a few words on the actual subject matter of the film. “The Whale” has come under fire by it's portrayal of severe obesity. I was extremely curious to see what exactly the issues were, as I myself spent my entire youth morbidly obese. I was never anywhere close to the type of life/weight depicted in “The Whale”, but I certainly have an inside view of what it means to be extraordinarily overweight. And my final conclusion is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it's portrayal and that anyone hurt by this needs to take a serious look in the mirror, because these are very real implications of extreme obesity.
One of the main criticisms of the film are that they should have used an actually morbidly obese actor. Well guess what? Someone in that critical of health would absolutely not be able to handle an acting role such as this, nor should they. The movie focuses on someone whose health is failing rapidly, and you want to find a poor soul in such a state and try to force them on film to act? This “realism” in casting needs to have a ceiling, and I think this is it. We're not talking about casting someone as the proper race of their character (an easy and warranted fix), we're talking about casting someone on the brink of death in this case. Which is absolutely ridiculous. The character in the film is more than 600lbs for reference.
But I digress, I felt I needed to address the controversies given how out of touch with reality I feel they are. Onto the film; is this a good movie? Yes, Brendan Fraser delivers just as an incredible role as you've undoubtedly heard. The movie is nothing without him. The surrounding cast are all very good as well, but it's Fraser who drives the entire movie. He's so good as a sympathetic character we want to root for even though we know his outlook is bleak.
There isn't a ton to the story, it's quite simple in fact. It follows a week in the life of Fraser's character who is trapped in his house due to his failing health. So essentially it's a one setting film (with a couple flashback scenes to break it up). Different people come to Fraser's house to interact with him in bunch of different ways. Family comes to scorn and abuse him. A best friend attempts to care for him while at the same time being a textbook enabler. A young missionary tries to put Fraser on the path of God. You find out in the credits that the film is based on a stage play and you can absolutely see it based on the structure. This would be perfect for a stage show.
Fraser's daughter in the film (“Stranger Things'” Sadie Sink) is a high point. Sadie acts so well, but the character is so miserable and storming that I hated watching her onscreen almost the entire time. But we're meant to. So this is one of those roles where you have to acknowledge how good it was, but also it's OK to hate the character.
Hong Chau who plays Fraser's best friend is also an interesting role in that she's essentially his only caregiver, but also constantly enables him with food. It's a situation that happens all the time in real life situations, and one that I've had to navigate myself, so I really enjoyed the nuance of this character.
Will I ever watch “The Whale” again? Probably not. But it is a very good, well acted one viewer. Even though the content might be difficult for some people to watch, it's a brilliantly acted character study and I'm happy I finally got to see this one.
8/10
