What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Dir: Lasse Halströmm
Shown in FeckenOdeon 2 on 12th February, 2010

“Movies like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" are not easily summarised; they don't have that slick "high concept" one-sentence peg that makes them easy to sell. But some of the best movies are like this: They show everyday life, carefully observed, and as we grow to know the people in the film, maybe we find out something about ourselves. The fact that Lasse Hallström is able to combine these qualities with comedy, romance and even melodrama make the movie very rare.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

Gilbert Grape is the mainstay of a family that is a little unusual. Most communities have such people. They’re the ones that, if you’re kind, you try not to notice. The ones who get on with their lives in their own way but make you slightly uneasy. This is a story of people who most definitely aren't misfits (despite what society may think) mainly because they don't see themselves that way. Thankfully this film doesn’t treat them with tragic seriousness; it is a problem, yes, to have a retarded younger brother. And it is also a problem to have a mother so fat she never leaves the house. But when kids from the neighbourhood sneak around to peek at the fat lady in the living room, Gilbert sometimes gives them a boost up to the window. What the hell.
This film is a starting point for the careers of two of Hollywood’s big earners and it contains fantastic performances from both of them. Johnny Depp has the easier task in portraying the patient and caring young father substitute but he does it with such gentle conviction that the character remains totally believable even when the plot strays a little way from the credible.
The young Leonardo DiCaprio - only 16 at the time of the filming - has a more difficult task. How do you tackle the portrayal of a mentally handicapped youngster without either underplaying the character or turning it into a gross caricature? Mr DiCaprio recalls, "I had to really research and get into the mind of somebody with a disability like that. So I spent a few days at a home for mentally retarded teens. We just talked and I watched their mannerisms. People have these expectations that mentally retarded children are really crazy, but it's not so. It's refreshing to see them because everything's so new to them."
The other big character in the Grape residence is Momma. Momma was played by Darlene Cates and yes, she really is that big. She weighs 38 stones. This is her film acting debut. She’d been through all kinds of treatments and (like Momma) endured a 5 year period where she didn’t leave her home. She had finally emerged go on a TV show to highlight the plight of people like herself. The film’s writer saw the show and suggested that she play the part of Momma. She had her doubts but said: “I had to make a choice, I could stay where I was and be miserable, or I could take a risk and do something exciting. I talked with the author, Peter Hedges. There were some things in the book that I didn't like but as we went along I was so proud of the way that the character was portrayed and so proud of the way that the children came around to see that this woman had good qualities, and how much she really did care about her family”. Ms Cates continues to act and to campaign for the rights of larger people.