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Essay / Commentary on the film What Gilbert Grape Eats and...
The film What Gilbert Grape Eats was released on December 17, 1993 and directed by Lasse Hallstrom. It's about a boy named Gilbert who takes care of his mentally challenged brother, Arnie. Gilbert is played by actor Johnny Depp and Arnie is played by actor Leonardo Dicaprio. In the film, it's almost Arnie's eighteenth birthday and his family is throwing a party for him. A week before Arnie's birthday, he and Gilbert watch a huge group of people drive through town towing RVs. As Arnie and Gilbert watch the campers pass by, one of the trucks breaks down and that's how they meet Becky, played by Juliette Lewis. Gilbert begins to fall in love with Becky but he knows she has to leave once the truck is repaired. Gilbert's mother is very obese and has not left the house for seven years. She just sleeps on the couch and only gets up to go to the bathroom. On Arnie's birthday, after her party, she takes a seemingly endless journey up the stairs to her room and lies down. A few hours later, Arnie is the first to find her dead. Police say it would take a step up...