What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Vincent O’Neil

Introduction to Special Education 203

Movie Critique

Tues. September 8, 2020

 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

In the movie “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” we watch over the Grape family who live in

the town Endora. The movie is narrated by Gilbert Grape, who is the oldest son of the Grape

family. Gilbert’s father is dead, so he inherently becomes the “man” of the household. Gilbert’s

most important responsibility is to watch over his younger brother Arnie, who is disabled (we’re

not told what disability Arnie has). The movie begins a few days before Arnie’s 18th birthday

and ends with Arnie coming up on his 19th birthday. Arnie has a tendency to fool around and this

causes problems for the family. For one of Arnie’s biggest stunts he climbs all the way up the

water tower and the police have to rescue him and end up taking him into custody. A young

lady, named Becky, and her grandmother a forced to stay in the town of Endora when their truck

breaks down on their way passing through. Gilbert becomes acquainted with Becky and her

grandmother during their stay. Towards the end of the movie Gilbert’s mother dies and the

children find new paths of their own, Gilbert and Arnie sticking together.

Arnie’s disability seems to be of a cognitive sort, he acts like a young boy, but is

becoming of legal age. Arnie has sporadic movements, sometimes hitting himself and pulling on

his hair. Arnie loves to laugh and can go on repeating himself when he gets worked up. Arnie’s

disability affects himself by not letting him be a fully contributing member to his family and

community. Arnie relies on Gilbert and others to take care of him. Arnie affects Gilbert the

most, since these two spend the most time together. Gilbert becomes frustrated with Arnie

throughout the film and acts out in physical abuse in one instance. Arnie causes problems for the

town by putting himself in danger in public areas. Arnie needs the support of his family to help

live his life and that requirement puts stress on the family.
 The film portrays Arnie as an innocent young adult who has a loving and supporting

family. Arnie is seen to be living a full life of laughter, sadness and relationships. Gilbert

protects Arnie (and his mother too) and Gilberts employer lets Arnie hang around the store while

Gilbert is there. In no way is Arnie portrayed negatively, this film does an excellent job of

showcasing Arnie for what he is and not for what he isn’t.

A way society can erase prejudices towards disabilities would be to promote how similar

we all are, instead of focusing on our differences. People with disabilities are more alike people

without disabilities than they are different from them. Another way would be to promote the

independence and strength of people with disabilities. People with disabilities may require

accommodations, but those accommodations do not in turn make them weak or inferior to people

without disabilities. Society should be creating jobs that people with disabilities can succeed at

and thrive on. A lot of potential is waiting to be unlocked in some of these people and the time is

now for society to see to it that their potentials are unleashed, acknowledged and respected.

Gilbert was the most frustrated over Arnie’s disability, mostly due to the fact that Arnie

was Gilbert’s most important responsibility. Gilbert plays a balancing act with Arnie, the

community, and his family, all of which sums up to a lot of stress and frustration. Arnie is

unpredictable, which in turn unintentionally tests Gilbert throughout the movie.

I found this movie to be a great story and heartfelt performance. The movie brought to

me almost every emotion and held my attention from beginning to end. When Gilbert hits Arnie

I felt a knot in my stomach but was later relieved when Gilbert came back for Arnie’s party and

made his amends. Becky was a wonderful character who seemed to lighten the mood and was a

“keeper of the peace.” I have a feeling of remorse for the housewife Mrs. Carver and her sons.

The ending was satisfying and did not leave me wanting more or less.
 Works Cited

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Directed by Lasse Hallström, performances by Johnny Depp,

Leonardo DiCaprio, and Juliette Lewis, Paramount Pictures, 1993.