MovieChat Forums > The Blue Butterfly (2004) Discussion > True story -- though seems cloying at 1s...

True story -- though seems cloying at 1st

posted 17 years ago by Erick-12
2 replies | jump to latest

Like several reviews here, I also found this a bit overly predictable and cloying. But I had to think twice upon learning that it is based upon a true story that occured in 1987, when a boy named David was actually dying from cancer and asked TV entomologist Georges Brossard (programs named "Insecta" and also Discovery Channel's "Bug Man") in Montreal to take him to the rain forest. Like a miracle, upon returning to Canada, young David's cancer had gone in to remission. Last news I saw was he's still alive at age 22.

Now this changes any critical commentary based on feelings that the film is unrealistic or overly sentimental. In fact, the film attempts to avoid these charges, while representing the facts -- which are after all rather sentimental in reality.

[–] dantilla 15 years ago

I totally agree with you. The scenes especially between the boy and his Mother, but just think, he was DYING. Of course it was emotional. I did not realize it was a true story. I really liked the special effects when the Shaman was healing him and when he was lost in the jungle. Amazing that these kind of movies are not commercially successful!

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 14 years ago

Yeah, the true story is perhaps even more fascinating than the movie itself. I'd have loved to watch an in-depth documentary about this "miracle" (I am not a believer, but I dunno how else to call it), sadly the DVD that I rented was a barebones edition.