The River Why

Plot synopsis:
The River Why is an adaptation of the 1983 Sierra Club novel by David James Duncan. The coming-of-age tale centers on a young man named Augustine "Gus" Orviston (Zach Gilford) and his quest for an elusive rainbow trout, which is a metaphor for the man's internal search for self-knowledge. Amber Heard plays his love interest, a tomboy fly-fisher named Eddy. It starts out with Gus, a discontented city-dweller, fresh out of school. Living with his father, a man who literally has a bible on fly-fishing and his mother, a just as avid non-fly fisherman, Gus and his rather quiet little brother, deal with a lot of heated debates from his parents. They also constantly hear the story of how both parents fishing for the same prized Rainbow Trout led to them falling in love. After a day in the city where Gus catches a glimpse of the tom-boy Eddy at a fishing demonstration, he ends the night storming out and burning the prized family trout after a heated argument with his parents. Feeling it is time for a change, Gus drives out to the best fishing grounds he can find and obtains an old shack to stay in. He wakes up the next morning with one goal: fish all day and every day. This works out quite well for Gus as he also manages to get extra food from the sociable neighbors and their band of children who trade him fresh produce for the occasional fishing lesson. Everything is working well for Gus until he comes across a dead fisherman upriver. Unsure of what to do, Gus loads him into his boat and drags him and a water-filled boat back to land.
Although the exhausted Gus is fine physically, he is in an emotional turmoil. Although he is living an idyllic lifestyle and has complete freedom, he feels empty and confused. Although Gus, like the majority of humans had faced and known about death before, this was his first awakening to it. Gus is unsure of what to do until he meets a philosophic man, Titus, who talks to him about other goals and philosophies in life. Although Gus is still having a relatively hard time, he manages to start to rebuild himself emotionally. One day, while walking along the river-bank, he sees Eddy skinny-dipping and fishing. Amazed at the sight, but wanting to be decent, Gus quickly puts down his things and runs the other way. He whistles to signify he is coming, giving Eddy the chance to cover up. He and Eddy manage to lead a very awkward conversation with Gus not knowing what to say, and Eddy seeing his things and leaving. Gus keeps her fish and fishing pole until she can get it back and walks home pleasantly surprised. The next day, he helps a rather terrible fisherman and newspaper editor catch his fish. This man is so impressed that he writes an intriguing article about mysterious fisherman, Augustine (Gus) Orviston. Gus also has him include his personal information so Eddy can come get her stuff. Gus is starting to get a lot of fame and fortune from people coming to visit and get fishing advice from this "amazing Augustine." Gus is doing better keeping busy, but he is still having a hard time making sense of everything.
Then, Eddy comes back. Gus lets her stay at his house, but this quickly leads to them discovering their feelings for each other. Although this is a rather innocent relationship, it is also believable to have in "real life." This culminates to Eddy hooking a salmon to Gus's disbelief, but telling him that it is his job to tire the salmon out and catch it. Gus spends all night catching this fish, and showing an amazing level of passion while he does so. But, when Gus catches the fish, he decides to let it go. He then finds Eddy and they consummate their relationship. And although he displays a truly inspiring level of passion for fishing, he shows even more care and devotion to Eddy, which she returns wholeheartedly. A few days later, Eddy wanders off while Gus is fixing the house. Gus follows her soon after and finds her fishing with his family. The story culminates with Gus forgiving his parents and finding what he was searching for all along; happiness and purpose.

Tags: philosophical

Review: