When saving, how can you check if a field has changed?

In my model I have :

class Alias(MyBaseModel):
    remote_image = models.URLField(max_length=500, null=True, help_text="A URL that is downloaded and cached for the image. Only
 used when the alias is made")
    image = models.ImageField(upload_to='alias', default="alias-default.png", help_text="An image representing the alias")


    def save(self, *args, **kw):
        if (not self.image or self.image.name == 'alias-default.png') and self.remote_image :
            try :
                data = utils.fetch(self.remote_image)
                image = StringIO.StringIO(data)
                image = Image.open(image)
                buf = StringIO.StringIO()
                image.save(buf, format="PNG")
                self.image.save(hashlib.md5(self.string_id).hexdigest() + ".png", ContentFile(buf.getvalue()))
            except IOError :
                pass

Which works great for the first time the remote_image changes.

How can I fetch a new image when someone has modified the remote_image on the alias? And secondly, is there a better way to cache a remote image?