If a movies greatness is measured by its cinematography and its direction and its deep characters and its thought provoking script and its revolutionary special effects, then Free Willy is not the next Citizen Kane. But if you can appreciate films that have something important to say and something that it wants people to open their eyes to, then Free Willy is just as important and gripping as anything from Gandhi to Platoon, Mississippi Burning to Boyz and the Hood and JFK to Dancing With Wolves. And that is the truth. The problem with films like this is that it is viewed in the same light as movies like Gorillas In The Mist and Instinct. And that is they are bleeding hearted fluff. They ask you to "feel" for animals. It asks you to realize that we are bad people and that we should change the system from within. The only problem with that last statement is that it is said while people are rolling their eyes and using a sarcastic tone. But if we can look at films like Schindler's List and Cry Freedom, films that examine the atrocities perpetrated towards humans, see them for the genius that they are, why can we not take a film that has something to say about the abominable treatment of animals more seriously. After all, as Shylock once said, "Does a Jew not bleed?" Does an animal?
We are so desensitized towards cruelty to animals that we are practically oblivious to their plight. When we hear of a stray dog that shows up at the humane society with internal bleeding and a missing eye, we say that it's terrible and then we turn away and forget about it until the next ones shows up. When we go to water parks and see captive whales performing tricks we laugh and cheer and go back to our freedom and think nothing of the life that was destroyed when that beautiful beast was taken from its habitat. If anything, this movie shows us that we should not imprison these or any wild animals, and it does it so well that if you have any ounce of compassion in you, it will affect you. This film is not just for 10 year olds, it is a film that should be viewed by everyone that takes their freedom for granted. Because if all of a sudden one day we were put in prison for no reason, then and only then would we truly understand what animals go through.
Perhaps you think this review is not really about a movie and all I am doing is expressing my political beliefs, and that may be true, but if someone doesn't say something about this, then what good is our right of freedom of speech.
The film itself is about a parentless boy that ends up in foster care. There he ends up working at a Sea World type place where he meets a newly captured whale. He then takes it upon himself to free the whale knowing that the whale is going to be killed for insurance purposes.
As I said though, I believe this is an important story and if you disagree, think about the film " A Time To Kill ". Matthew McConnauhey ( wrong spelling, I know ) gives his speech at the end about the heinous crimes that were committed against the little black girl. He asks the all white jury to close their eyes as he tells the story. At the end of his graphic description he tells them to imagine she was white. It won him the case. Now do the same thing in regards to stories like Free Willy. Close your eyes and picture a whale held in a cell just big enough to move in. This whale is fed every once in a while and he is taught to do tricks so that people can laugh and cheer. He is separated from his family and his friends and his natural surroundings. He can hear them crying for him to come home at night. He has done nothing wrong, committed no crime and he just wants to go home. But he is kept against his will, for our entertainment.
Now picture what I am describing to you isn't a whale. Picture "it" as being human.
I applaud Richard and Laura Donner for making this film and I certainly hope people can see this and change their thinking about things. It is a powerful film. And it is one that should be taken more seriously.
