What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Last night I saw my latest DVD from Amazon, What's Eating Gilbert Grape? My children had recommended it to me, but I knew nothing about it, only that it featured the young Leonardo Di Caprio. I'm a great admirer of Di Caprio, and feel he is a major talent; this film more than confirmed my opinion.
He gives an astonishing performance as Arnie, Johnny Depp's 'special needs' younger brother who is obsessed with climbing tall and dangerous structures. There's no trace of the blazing tyro seen briefly in Celebrity, just an expression of the essence of a fragile, damaged being that is so complete that it is impossible to believe that we are seeing a performance.
The film was a joy from start to finish; a small masterpiece. Photographed by the peerless Sven Nykvist, cinematographer for several Woody Allen films and many of Ingmar Bergman's, it looked a European film, with beautifully composed shots - the scene in which the children gather round the bedside of their recently-deceased mother had the atmosphere and luminosity of a Dutch interior.
I'd had no idea Johnny Depp was in the film - he's Gilbert Grape in fact, the central character. His performance is characteristically unselfish, allowing others to shine; he's intense, yet gentle and wonderfully contained. The frighteningly-obese mother is played by Darlene Cates, who was discovered on a talk show, and her performance is heartbreaking. The scene in which she rouses herself to go to the police station where Arnie has been detained, after years lying prone on a couch in front of the TV, her children bringing her vast meals, is remarkable; as is the scene in which she agonisingly confesses that she never intended to become so fat.
The film is, above all, about tolerance and acceptance of difference, and the understanding and realisation that a lowly status in life is sometimes not the worst thing in the world; that what is. on the surface dysfunctional, can actually be warm, loving and caring, that the acceptance of disappointment can be a positive, life-affirming quality.
Nevertheless, Arnie and Gilbert escape after their mother's death, taking off in a caravan with Juliette Lewis and her grandmother. They have the chance of a different life, still with the difficulties and problems of the old life, but with the possibility of change, ending on a note of hope and uplift; not in the classic Hollywood manner of mindless redemption, but leaving us knowing that Gilbert has found someone sympathetic who is happy to help care for Arnie and include him in their life.
The film is, in the end, all about inclusion, the real meaning of the word. Not a facile mantra, but its reality, that helping others and caring for them, enabling them to have lives of their own, is central to what it means to be human.
Lasse Halstrom directed; his recent films have been too soft-centred - this isn't. His My Life as a Dog was delightful - it's a shame he hasn't been able to maintain the standards set by that and Gilbert Grape. Never mind - he's responsible for 2 delightful films, both of which are small, enduring masterpieces.