Movie night – The Shape of Water

I had planned to watch The Shape of Water with my friends months ago, and we actually wanted to watch it even before knowing it won the famous golden statue this year. For some reason though we never managed to go watch it to the cinema, but after far too long we manage to get the DVD and enjoy the vision of the movie that won the 2018 Oscar for best Picture (other than Best Director, best Original Score and Best Production Design).

And well, according to me the movie deserves all the awards it brought home. Having been directed by Guillermo del Toro, it goes by itself that it couldn't but be a beautiful, captivating, charming film, and it definitely keeps up with its promises.

Set in Baltimora during the cold war, the movie features Elisa Esposito, a mute orphan girl found as a baby by the river, with some wounds on her neck. She works as a night cleaner at a secret government laboratory, and her only friends are her neighbour Giles and work colleague Zelda. They both understand her sign language, and translate for her to other people.

One day Zelda and Elisa get to clean one of the laboratories where a creature has been kept. It is a humanoid amphibian captured by Colonel Richard Strickland in South America, and the scientists of the lab are in charge to study the creature and unveil its abilities.

Elisa is fascinated by the water creature, and starts visiting him in secret, creating a close bond with him. Unfortunately the scientists in the lab cannot understand the creature as she does, and after having lost two fingers because of its bite, Colonel Strickland decided the creature is useless, and it is better to kill it (before the Russians discover of its existence and use it against them).

One of the team scientist though has secretly seen Elisa communicating by sign language with the creature, and he doesn't want it to be killed. He tries to convince the Colonel but fails, so decides to help Elisa in rescuing and freeing him.

The magic of the movie relies I think in its beautiful picture, music and costumes. They all bring back that sweet 60s nostalgia, and one can't but be enchanted and daydream with Elisa. The moral message bought by the movie is obviously against prejudice, discrimination and violence, and on that note, one cannot but hate Colonel Strickland, who is a villain in the most classic of ways. He doesn't fight for a reason or a goal, and wants to kill the creature only because he is evil, conceited and a son of a... witch.

I do suggest you to watch the movie if you haven't yet, and then let me know what you think about it. Do you think it deserves the awards it won? Have you been captured by its magic like me?

Talk to you very soon, until then, take care

Xx