“There are some fish that
cannot be caught. It's not that they are faster or stronger than other fish,
they're just touched by something extra.”
When I went to the cinema with my family to see Big Fish for the first time, none of us understood it. I was 11
years old and I continuously wondered “Finally, did it really happen or not?”
But I did not think very much about that. I preferred other types of films,
those in which the plot is easy and you did not have to think very much.
Nevertheless, when I had seen this film among those offered to make our reviews,
I wanted to see it: “Maybe this time I can understand it” I thought. Finally, I
am pleased to have done it, because I have discovered a delightful and haunting
story that will remain in my mind for many years.
Magical and moving are the best adjectives to describe this film, which
basically talks about the reconciliation between a dying father and his sceptical
son. It was very special for its director, Tim Burton, since his parents died
little time before he started to direct the film. It has two different faces:
on the one hand, it gave a little dose of moving reality and, on the other
hand, we enjoy several minutes of amusing fantasy. This mixture may be the
reason why Big Fish had seven nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television
Arts, four for the Golden Globe Award, two for
the Saturn Adward, one for the Oscars and one for the Grammy
Award.
Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is a dreamy man who loves telling tall
stories about his life. His son, Will (Billy Crudup), gets angry when his
father tells a fantastic tale about his birth in his wedding. Because of that,
Will does not speak to Edward and they maintain contact only through his mother
(Jessica Lange). When his father is about to die, Will travels home from Paris,
where he lives and works as a journalist, and tries to get to know his true
father’s life piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of
the amazing adventures that Edward has been telling him since he was a child. In
this way, we discover that Edward (Ewan McGregor) left home
in search of adventures when he was a young man: he saw his death in a witch’s
eye, he travelled with a giant, he discovered a werewolf, he made a promise to
a little girl in a town where no one wears shoes, he found a highly unusual
singing Siamese twin act and he did everything he could to marry Sandra
Templeton (Alison Lohman), the love of his life, who is engaged to someone
else.
This film talks about many important issues that should be remarked. The
first and most important one is the distancing between a father and a son,
which makes up the main plot. Will thinks that his father is a liar and that he
concocts all the stories that he tells. He thinks that Edward has not looked
after his family and, even, that he has had an affair. Will feels that he does
not have anything in common with his father: Edward was a salesman who liked to
tell stories and Will is a journalist who works telling the facts as they
actually are. In fact, he became a journalist because he was fed up with
Edward’s tall stories. At first, when he was a little child he trusted his
tales, but as he grew up he started not to believe them anymore and he wanted
to know the true story. He does not matter how disappointing it could be, he
just want to know the real facts in his father’s life.
Secondly, in the flashbacks we have, for instance, a very important point
of view about death. When Edward was a child, he saw in a witch’s eye how he
would die but he was not afraid at all. Actually, it seems like he is not upset
about having that fate. This fact is an important key that can reveal you why
Edward lives like that, without fear. The search for the American dream is
another important issue. When Edward was a child, he grew up faster than the
others and he read that if you keep a type of fish (the goldfish) in a small
bowl it will remain small but with more space, the fish can grow the double,
triple or quadruple its size. That fact made him understand that his village,
Ashton, was too little for him and he went in search for adventures with a
giant who was sowing the pain. There are some other important issues like the
corruption of culture – a poet from Edward’s village will became a thief – and the
hidden town of Spectre, which is one of the most characteristic scenes of Big Fish. Nonetheless, one of the points
that I have liked the most is the eternal love that Edward professes to his
wife. It is one of the most beautiful love stories that I have found in a film.
It brings a lot of sweet scenes like when he shouts her that he wants to marry
her and covers her garden with her favourite flowers.
To sum up, Big Fish has been
criticised for being incomprehensible, utterly endless, prone to fantasizing
and a little childish, but, however, I would recommend you this film for four
reasons: first, you will find wonderful performances that will impress you like
a charming McGregor, a mysterious DeVito
and specially an entertaining Finney; second, you will find a moving film that
probably will make you cry; third, you will discover amusing and original
adventures that probably will make you laugh; and, finally and most important,
because there is a very shocking end that I have not told you.
