Swimming Upstream

This movie truly is inspirational. Tony Fingleton is more than just a character, but a real relatable person with a deep past. I've recommended this movie to dozens of people, especially ones who seek to make themselves their own person, despite what others wish. This movie portrays the times will and the story of Tony in a very will played manner. The acting is superb (like always with this cast) and the overall impact from the film really means something. The content is deep while not delving too much into specific subjects. If you're renting this movie, the 3 dollars is worth it and same goes for purchasing. 10 out of 5 stars for this brilliant movie.

This was quite a good film, good acting performances all around, had some complex themes satisfactorily explored, and some subtle messages that were neither heavy handed nor saccharin. It's a story of the weakness that comes from innocence in the face of vitriol, and the path to self confidence that comes through trauma and reaction to it--not particularly noble-- rather than responding with the same vitriol as the generation before. In other words, the protagonist succeeds to spite his father, not the most noble reason, but is at least one step better than what the father does (self destruct and destruct those around him) to spite his mother.