Heavy is a film about a chief ,Victor Modino, who helps run a small restaurant called Pete and Dolly’s in a rural part of New York. His mother, Dolly is the head of the restaurant after the passing of her husband Pete. Dolly spends much of her time sitting around the restaurant taking care of the logistics as well as dealing with her employees; particularly Dolores whom she strongly dislikes on account of Dolores having an affair with Pete 15 years ago. The Dynamic of the restaurant takes a drastic turn when Dolly decides to hire Callie, a nice young girl who has just recently dropped out of college. Dolly is very fond of Callie and tries to comfort her in her dilemma of dropping out of college by assuring her that:
“Not everyone has to go to college. Some of us have to roll up our sleeves and
do the work” (2:25-2:30)

(Mangold, 1995)
Callie goes on to befriend the quiet, chief, Victor. She compliments him on his skill at making pizza and other cooking talents. She suggests to victor that he should attend culinary school. The idea of this is quickly shot down by Victor’s mother as well as Dolores. However, Callie continues to complement Victor on his cooking skills and the two start to develop a friendship. This friendship leads to Victor developing feelings for Callie as he starts having daydreams about encounters with her. Victor believes that maybe if he loses weight, Callie would be more attracted to him and the two could eventually be together. He decides to go to the grocery store to purchase healthy items to help with his weight loss. One night Victor drives Callie home from work and she explains her dilemma about not knowing what to do with her life. She ends up kissing Victor but after she insists that he takes her home.
Tragedy strikes when a heart attack results in Dolly being admitted into the hospital. The doctor’s assure victor that she will be alright, but after the treatments and surgeries don’t have a positive impact on her recovery, Dolly passes away. This is a major part of the movie for the character development of victor. Victor does not tell anyone about the passing of his mother and instead keeps the event to himself. This results in Victor turning to food for pleasure and comfort. This further contributes to his weight problem. In anger, from the loss of his mother, Victor begins to destroy the restaurant, smashing and breaking things throughout the restaurant. Callie comes into the restaurant to quit her job and collect her last paycheck and is surprised when she finds Victor and sees the current state of the restaurant. She tries to comfort Victor but tells him that she is returning to college, but will visit him soon.
In the last scene, Victor returns to the convenience store where he first purchased the foods for his diet. After an accident happens, involving Gatorades falling out of the refrigerator and shuddering on the floor, Victor decides to talk to one of the employees. He sets aside the his fears and the persona that many people give him, because of his weight. This gives us hope that Victor will one day find peace and his weight struggle both externally and the emotional problems it causes him will be resolved.
This film used a few different themes that could be seen throughout the movie. Among these themes were topics such as ideology, obesity discourse, and food as identity. These central themes help develop the plot line as well as Victor’s character development. Many of the themes in the movie are centralized around Victor. It is evident throughout the movie that Victor’s weight problem is something that he is not comfortable. It has a drastic impact on the way he goes about his daily life both in his actions and his attitudes.

(Mangold 1995)
Victor’s own food ideologies can be considered as a pleasurable ideology. Throughout the course of the movie we see him overindulging in different sugary foods, pizza, pop and a large breakfast every morning. It is not as evident in the early portions of the movie, rather, it is something that is there but we don’t really think about it until unfavorable events take place. When Victor’s mother is first admitted to the hospital, we get a glimpse into this problem. When sitting in the waiting room, Victor was depressed and sad. He also appears to be eating some kind of candy bar. One of the more powerful examples of his use of food as a pleasurable escape, is when he is in the back of the kitchen after revealing to everyone that his mother had passed away. Victor begins to binge eat donuts and other foods. He struggles with sharing his emotions with other people as well just talking to people in general. Because of this, food is his support system and it is what brings him comfort and pleasure.
Victor’s weight struggle and the emotional problems it brings with it is the central theme of the movie. Heavy gives the audience an excellent account of the obesity discourse in the United States. One of the topics within the obesity discourse highlighted in this movie is those who are benefiting from the obesity crisis. One such instance of a group benefiting from the obesity crisis is the supplement industry (weight loss products). When Victor is visiting the local convenience store to get groceries he has a conversation with the lady working the cash register. Victor asks her about a weight loss product the lady has been using. The product is labeled “Light and Fit: Lose weight gain Energy food replacement shake”. When Victor asks her is it works she responds:
“I lost 15 pounds on that stuff” (15:44-15:46)
This is pretty typical of those in the weight loss industry. They try to develop a product that is easy to use, such as a shake, but it is supposed to help with weight loss. They try to create shortcuts and advertise that their product will deliver faster results; instead of delivering a serious solution to a serious problem. Many of the companies in the weight loss industry take advantage of this problem so that they can profit from it. The obesity crisis has become its own industry for people to profit from it.
Digging a little deeper into the Obesity discourse and we can see how nutritional reductionism is present in the weight loss shake that Victor buys. Many weight loss supplements focus on only delivering nutrients that a refined. The individual does not ingest the nutrients through whole food sources. Instead weight loss products, such as the Light and Fit shakes, only focus on what nutrients are being delivered to the consumer and not as much worried about the origins or quality of the nutrients. This appeals greatly to those who are struggling with their weight because the obese often times want to see the results immediately so they aren’t as worried as how they attain their weight loss as long as there is weight lost.
One other important central theme of the movie involves food and identity; in regards to how Victor is identified through his food choices. Victor’s identity can be traced back to his weight struggle. Although he is a very talented cook, he maintains a very quiet demeanor. He goes throughout the movie barely talking at all and when he does it’s rarely more than a few words. This is because Victor’s weight problem makes him extremely self conscious. He chooses to avoid attention at all costs, such an example would be refusing to tell his coworkers that his mother passed away because he did not want things to feel different. His weight struggle has also caused Dolores and her alcoholic friend Leo to make fun of him on many occasions. Victor is all aware of his situation and wishes to change it. In one scene, his mother asks him why he did not eat breakfast and victor explains to her that he is fat:
“Dolly: You must not skip breakfast it’s the most important meal of the day. Victor: I’m fat mom. Dolly: You are not fat. You are husky, well built, you are macho. Victor: I am fat mom.” (24:50-30:15)

(Mangold, 1995)
This is a very important scene because Victor realizes his identity and how people view him. He wants to change; however his mother tries to give an alternative view. Many people who struggle with their weight find comfort when people just simply shrug off the topic of weight problems by saying the are husky. Victor is tired of this identity and wants to change.

References

Miller, R & Mangold J. 1995. Heavy. United States: Available Light Productions