BIG FISH Tribute

I remember having mixed feelings and thoughts about this movie when I first watched it. I had seen other Tim Burton films before such as Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands, so I was familiar with that peculiar gothic aesthetic and imprint on his works, but I wasn’t expecting it to be mixed with other rather realistic and dramatic scenes, which gave the movie a deeper and more serious tone that wasn’t usually so present in other of his films so, despite liking the movie in general terms, especially the fantasy parts, I could not really appreciate that duality in the universe of the movie. Later, when I watched it again for a project for the cinema school, I enjoyed it much more and understood that is actually this unusual combination of fiction and fact that makes this particular piece of art so unique.

Based on Daniel Wallace’s novel, the script navigates through the past and present with two apparently diverged points of view represented by the relationship between a father and his son. On one hand, the father seems to have created a world full of fantasy in order to escape the illness that is consuming his last days on the earth; on the other hand, the son is not capable of believing his father’s stories and holds resentment against him because of this, and, as the narrative goes on, we learn that they both need to acknowledge something from each other.

The story is presented like a collection of tales that is a tale in itself. These little tales, which represent the father’s point of view, are greatly recreated thanks to the distinctive Tim Burton’s touch and his creativity and capacity of forming unique images and aesthetics. The job done by the artistic direction department is amazing here. I personally love the part with the haunted woods and the giant spiders. But, once again, the dramatic and realistic scenes, representing the son’s perspective, are needed in order to create that contrast and antithesis. An especial mention should be made to the performances given by the actors in their respective roles. I particularly enjoyed the bathtub scene a lot with Jessica Lange and Albert Finney’s wonderful portrayals of their characters.

No other song that A Movie Called Life could have fit in better with the images of this movie. Even the title makes honors the thesis and the ending of the film. It seemed appropriate to me that, although some parts of the lyrics are very personal and specific about my life, the childish and naive spirit of the melody would adequately match the themes and metaphors of Big Fish frames.

THESIS

It is clear to me that the main message of the movie is about not creating walls that limit our knowledge about reality and this is validated in the ending scene when we learn that all the stories that the father used to tell his son were actually true. It’s about letting go and believing everything is possible. It’s a beautiful metaphor standing for the infinite possibilities that storytelling and art can give us as a way of mirroring ourselves. There is more than meets the eye and we have a long way to go still.

REALITY CAN BE STRANGER THAN FICTION.