You are here:

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Name: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Director: Fernando Birri
Released: 1988
Duration: 90 min

Representation Score

8.0/10

Good

1988

Not Rated

Director

Fernando Birri

Runtime

90 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Fernando Birri’s adaptation uses Magical Realism to disrupt conventional narrative structures and Western rationalism. By centering a Caribbean setting and a underrepresented community, the film avoids typical mainstream fantasy clichés. The film's strength lies in its systemic critique of institutional religion and capitalist exploitation. It effectively uses the 'otherness' of the Old Man to expose human greed and social dysfunction. However, the film lacks specific representation for LGBTQ+ identities and neurodivergent characters. While it explores themes of being an outsider, these are not translated into explicit queer or neurodivergent character arcs.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film doesn't show LGBTQ+ identities or non-straight relationships. It focuses on the celestial figure and a central family unit instead of developing queer characters.

How does A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings portray gender?

Fair

Female characters play important roles in managing the family's finances. Elisinda, in particular, leads the family's financial change by managing the winged man's commercial success.

How racially and ethnically diverse is A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings?

Good

Set in a Caribbean environment, the film centers on a underrepresented, impoverished community. It uses the Old Man to explore themes of displacement and the commodification of the foreign.

How does A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The story criticizes organized religion and capitalism through characters like Father Gonzaga. It deconstructs traditional sanctity by showing the miraculous as a catalyst for human greed and social dysfunction.

Does A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings include disability representation?

Good

The Old Man represents profound physical differences, challenging the rational world. While his condition is treated as a spectacle, his presence forces a confrontation with the limits of human empathy.

Present on Screen

Strong critique of capitalist exploitation and religious dogma.
Effective use of a Caribbean setting to avoid white normativity.
Nuanced portrayal of female economic ability to act within a domestic setting.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit LGBTQ+ or non-straight character development.
Risk of treating physical difference primarily as a spectacle for curiosity.
Absence of neurodivergent representation within the narrative.

Official Synopsis

An elderly man with wings is blown off course during a tropical storm in this symbolic fantasy. The Old Man lands near a Caribbean island where a poor family gives him shelter in a chicken coop. Father Gonzaga is the skeptical priest who rushes to damn the creature. Soon the Old Man is the subject of curiosity seekers as Elisinda and Pelayo start charging admission. A traveling carnival of human oddities camps near the Old Man as people flock to see the show. The Old Man is reduced to being an unwanted pet, and after six years, he mends his wings and flies away. Nudity, simulated sex with a spider woman, and the ugliness of human exploitation definitely put this fantasy in a category not for children.

How are these scores produced? →