Killer Whale: Thoughts on the Themes of 'The Whale'

I don't even really know where to begin writing this. This movie was so heartbreaking and so real. Reading reviews about people claiming that it was Brendan Fraser's best performance set me up for high expectations, but he completely blew me away. This movie was everything I thought it would be and more. I went into the movie expecting to shed a few tears, but I didn't expect to literally sit there sobbing. I don't think I've cried so hard at a movie's ending since Queen & Slim.

If you know me, you know the initial selling piece for me seeing this movie was the A24 logo. A24 movies seldom miss the mark, and The Whale certainly hit the nail on the head. If you want a good cry and want to see a movie with a hard-hitting story that will get you thinking, check this movie out.

From this point on, this blog post will contain spoilers for The Whale. If you haven't seen the movie, please, for the love of God, don't read any further until you've seen it.

In this blog, I really wanted to discuss two main themes that I believe were prevalent in the film; honesty and religion. In regards to honesty, throughout the movie, that's all that Charlie, Ellie, and Thomas really wanted. Starting with Thomas, just wanted to be honest about what he believed was the best way to be a missionary. He didn't want to stand on street corners and pass out meaningless pamphlets; he really wanted to go into people's lives and make a difference by "saving" them. After coming clean and being honest to Ellie about his whole story, her brutally honest truth-telling helped Thomas get back home to his family.

Regarding Ellie's honesty, as mentioned earlier, she was brutally honest. Throughout the film, her blunt comments were harsh to hear and see, but as we find out later, she wasn't trying to go out of her way to be a "terror," she was just trying to tell her truth. I believe this is part of why, despite her rude behavior and horrible comments, Charlie still smiled at her and told her how amazing she was throughout the film. He thought she was amazing because she always told things how they were. She always gave people honesty and that is all she wanted from other people. That is what she wanted from Thomas, and I believe the honesty she got from her father regarding all the events that conspired during her childhood helped heal her relationship with him before his demise.

In regards to Charlie, like his daughter and Thomas, all he wanted was honesty. He just wanted to be honest with himself regarding his sexuality and his feelings for Alan. He wanted others to be honest with him too. As he states to his students:

"These assignments don’t matter. This course doesn’t matter. College doesn’t matter. The amazing, honest things that you wrote, matter."

As previously stated, despite how rash his daughter was, he appreciated her brutal honesty because it was real. Unlike her mother, she didn't sugarcoat the truth as her mother did to Charlie. She kept things real with everyone, and that is all that he wanted.

The movie itself was very true to the theme of honesty. This movie was real and honest in the way that it had no real perfect characters. There was no character that was completely good with great intentions or completely horrible with evil intentions, which is how it is in life. The characters in this movie were just themselves. They were just normal people with normal stories. No out-of-this-world character arcs, no big hero moments, just raw, honest, human behavior.

The other theme I wanted to discuss was religion. This element was brought up throughout the movie, especially given that many of the characters had strong feelings about this topic. From Thomas, who just wanted to share the word of God and bring people to salvation, to Liz and Charlie, who lost someone very close to both of them due to suicide driven by religious guilt, this movie really demonstrated both sides of the coin.

The thing I really wanted to discuss regarding this theme was the parallels between the Christian religion and Charlie's faith in his daughter. I believe that instead of having faith in God, the thing that really kept him going was his faith in his daughter. Instead of reading the Bible and reciting Bible verses, Charlie had his daughter's essay memorized and read it out loud when he needed something to comfort him. Instead of believing in the truth of God, he believed in the truth of his daughter. Ellie was his religion, and this kept him going in life.

This may come as a surprise to some, but not everyone on Earth is a Christian. Some people believe in other things, and others believe in nothing. As Thomas exclaimed to Charlie that "If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live," this didn't work for Charlie because it is not what he believed in. The beliefs he subscribed to just consisted of being honest with himself. While Thomas believed that "[putting] to death the misdeeds of the body" would set Charlie free, in the end, Charlie's honesty to himself, his students, and his daughter is what did the trick.