Dolphin Boy (2011) User Reviews

honest, moving and awesome.

[lozi_p · 8/10 · 17 May 2011]

There are many great things about Dolphin Boy. One is it's power despite a simple and basic no frills approach to film-making, a clear indicator of a wonderful story. A great start for any documentary.

The story is certainly extraordinary and interesting in how it's content unravels, but what struck me most was how easy it is to connect emotionally with the thoughts and feelings captured from those most involved in the situation, (primarily dolphin boy himself and his father,) which are wholly honest and refreshingly simple (perhaps indirectly facilitated to a certain extent by English subtitles translating and maybe simplifying the Hebrew speech.) Whatever the reason, one cannot help but be gripped by the psychological changes and developments in dolphin boy himself and the absolute love and devotion of his father. There are only subtle reminders of the wider social situation in play and developments 'within the wider world' as it were, and these work very well to keep us informed but not divert or tangent from the sole focus of the film.

And perhaps that's the point. When true relationships are completely at stake the wider world is always there but appears in comparison as a kind of translucent backdrop to resolving and nurturing that which really matters.

Watch it and see what happens.

why I love this film

[mstzu · 9/10 · 12 January 2012]

Whenever one sees an Israeli film that includes Arabs, one can assume a meaningful "message" will follow. And that does happen here but in a totally unpredictable way. This movie is about the power of love, but also the strength of love. The depicted relationship of the father and son transcend boundaries we may have seen before, let alone been lucky enough to experience personally. Selflessness, devotion, patience, persistence, and TIME. This miracle took 4 years to accomplish. (I couldn't help thinking that in the US after the initial treatment failures, this young man would have been institutionalized to remain lost in his personal limbo; insurance would not cover this therapy.) I realize I'm reading translations but even the language used by the father and son were poetic (not exact but "he is the blood that runs in my veins," "who can love her more than I," or when the son finally acknowledges his mother after 2 years, she says that the milk came into her breast as if he was newborn). An incredible confluence of events made this film possible. Please see it

Hurrah to the Dolphins

[des_uk · 10/10 · 20 May 2017]

We all know the Power of Dolphins and how majestic they are, but this film was the most moving I have watched in a very long time.

The love, time, attention and total devotion from his father, the sheer determination he wanted his boy back was, incredible.

The end result was so uplifting, it was simply, absolutely wonderfully fabulous.

The magic of tokenism

[zeblah · 11 April 2013]

One thing that is disturbing in this film is its depiction of relationships between Jewish and Arab Israelis. The Dolphin Boy's family, a seemingly "good" well-integrated Arab family, is wonderfully supported by the seemingly all Jewish medical and dolphin facility staff. In contrast, the family was victimized by what is suggested to be "bad" Arabs.

What crosses the mind is "tokenism" and looking through the Wikipedia definition can help point out issues in the Dolphin Boy's content. Tokenism is the practice of "making a perfunctory gesture toward the inclusion of members of minority groups... usually intended to create a false appearance of inclusiveness and deflect accusations of discrimination". And indeed watching this movie, the impression you get is that Arabs are given much support by the Israeli care system. But it's difficult for us to fit this with the systemic discrimination against Arabs that is described to us foreign audiences by other media sources, even by Israeli TV hit series like "Arab Labor".

Per Wikipedia, "Classically, token characters have some reduced capacity compared to the other characters and may have bland or inoffensive personalities so as to not be accused of stereotyping negative traits". The Dolphin Boy and his family certainly seem to be presented as victims, of their own people to make things worse. There is almost nothing about the boy itself (a young adult) that marks an Arab or Muslim identity. Both him and his father speak what seems to be very good Hebrew most of the time. The dad, a main character, wears what seems to be an Aussie cowboy hat and stylish slim jeans for much of the movie. He gathers his friends to drink tea and dance around a fire in a scene that mixes a cowboy feel with bromance sweetness. It's confusing.

I left the movie feeling disturbed enough to want to share this with others. It was heart warming to see the Dolphin Boy recover from the trauma caused by the severe beating by "bad" Arabs. It really is hopeful to see the positive effect of dolphin therapy over a year. But ultimately, I could not shake off the sense that this was propaganda: Perhaps for dolphin therapy? For the Israeli care system? For the benefits of being a "good" Arab in Israel. Perhaps you will want to watch this movie and answer that question for yourself.