"The Whale. Don't be afraid, we're in a hurry!

By Susana Moscatel

The first time I saw the film where Brendan Fraser delivers one of the most extraordinary performances I have ever seen in my life, was at the Los Cabos Film Festival and I left the theater to look at the sea. I am told that I spent two hours there, until it occurred to me to return to the "surface" of the emotional blow that the story, the acting, the direction, everything, had provoked in me.

Yes, I knew about the six minutes of standing applause they received in Venice, and it was clear to me that the director, Darren Aronofsky does not allow us escapism when it comes to his films. It's not a sanitized version, concerned with sensibilities more those that serve the story, in this case, one filled with grace at its most splendid. Nor does it bother to change anything about what one or two generations who no longer want to bother with anything that makes them uncomfortable might say. But this film is about a morbidly obese man, I'm talking about 270 kilos, not a superfluous or aesthetic issue, and he is trying to repair what he can with what little time he has left.

Well, the film has had so many readings and criticisms that I consider deeply wrong and you will read why, I took it more personally than usual.