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College Tribune | 3rd February 2009
Social Endeavour OF THE FORTNIGHT
bodies the exhibition Though it might seem rather macabre to most, the bodies’ exhibition which is taking place at the Ambassador in Dublin is well worth a visit. The exhibition takes visitors through galleries providing an up-close look inside the skeletal, muscular, reproductive, respiratory, circulatory and other systems of the human body. Many of the whole body specimens are dissected in vivid athletic poses, allowing the visitor to relate to everyday activities. On entering the exhibition one cannot help but be shocked, as you come face to face with whole dead bodies, stripped of their skin in order to expose the muscle build-up. The whole exhibition is treated with great seriousness; signs stating that all the specimens have been treated with the respect and dignity they deserve are plenty. The exhibition is an unusual mix between science and art. On the one hand it demonstrates the beauty and complexity of the body while on the other hand, it allows the visitor to become better acquainted with the workings of the body from foetus stage to old age. There is a large part of the exhibition devoted to diseases which affect the body, and the visitor is encouraged to dump their cigarettes into a bin located between a diseased and a healthy lung. Visitors also have the option to enter the room which contains the bodies of babies at various stages of development both inside and outside the womb. The glory of this exhibition is that it allows visitors to see things that normally only science and med students are privy to. It gives you the chance to observe the very inner workings of our bodies and to learn more about the human constitution. This is perhaps the only place you can see so much of yourself, from the brain to tiny capillaries so get up and go before the dead rise and run away. James granell
film retrospective
Complete satisfaction Set in the heartland of America, What's Eating Gilbert Grape is centred on the bizarreness of small town life and the quirks of ordinary people. Gilbert (Johnny Depp), a young man working as a grocery delivery boy, has been given the job of minding his younger brother Arnie (Leonardo Di Caprio), a severely mentally disabled teenager soon to celebrate his eighteenth birthday. In spite of their average rural working-class background, no area of Grape family life is in fact ordinary. Ever since his father “hung himself out to dry” years ago, Grape's mother has suffered with depression and obesity which has left her at thirty-six stone and unable to leave the house for the last seven years. The brutally honest depiction of the family and the blunt manner with which their neighbours treat them
what’s eating Gilbert grape? 1993 with gives way to a beautiful tale of human endurance that ends on an uplifting note overall. During the beginning voice over narration, Gilbert explains that trying to describe his hometown Endora, Iowa, is like “dancing to no music”. His admission that some days he wants Arnie to live and some days he doesn't, in light of Arnie's condition, portrays simply the tense relationship created by their extremely close connection. The film is circular in that it begins and ends with the two brothers by the roadside waiting for the passing camper vans to come by uneventful Endora. Until worldly traveler and
hippie Becky (Juliette Lewis) enters his life, Gilbert has been sleeping through life in need of some escape. Her no apologies attitude allows him to confront his future and gives him the courage to deal with his house which is literally bursting apart under the weight of mama's problems. A love story on many levels with truly endearing performances. Aoife Ryan