- PG. 107 minutes.
Even though they’re big and powerful, they’re so much like us. We’re vulnerable and we get scared. We need help sometimes, too.
I don’t know where you were in 1988 when this story happens, but I was doing a year abroad in England and apparently not reading any newspapers or watching the news, so the plight of a family of gray whales in Alaska completely escaped my notice. While the movie dramatizes much of the storyline, it keeps the main points intact.
Adam Carlson (an appealing John Krasinski) is a tv reporter stationed in small communities doing color stories. He has been staying a long time in the tiny town of Barrow, Alaska and is ready to leave when he happens across the gray whale family punching out a breathing hole in the ice. The whales are supposed to migrate down to Baja, but for unknown reasons get caught in the quickly forming ice. There are now five miles of ice between them and the open ocean and no other breathing holes. The whales simply can’t swim that far without coming up for air. Adam’s report gets picked up nationally, and before you know it, the whales gain a huge following.
Supporters include Adam’s ex-girlfriend Rachel, who is a Greenpeace organizer; (Drew Barrymore); oil drilling baron J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson), who donates a hover tugboat to break the ice for the whales; and Kelly (Vinessa Shaw), a presidential aide. Tim Blake Nelson plays another Greenpeace supporter, Dermot Mulroneyplays the National Guard colonel who helps in the rescue, Kristen Bell is a mainstream reporter looking to move up (and Adam has a crush on her), and Ahmaogak Sweeney plays a local Inupiat boy, caught between wanting to know more about the outside world and the traditions of his elders. It is an impressive cast of characters.
What the film does really well is show the balancing act that happened to make the rescue work. Rachel is downright annoying as a gung ho Greenpeace agitator, but she makes her points. McGraw as the oil baron gets involved for the good PR, but he ends up actually caring about the whales. Kelly and the colonel represent the U.S. government, who want to help partly as a ploy during an election year. The local Inupiat population are still hunting whales for food, but even they see the sense of not presenting themselves as savages to the world. All of these different factions have to put aside their extreme views in a combined effort to save the whale family.
Krasinski stands out as Adam, the reporter who really understands the locals but also has insight into Rachel and her strong beliefs. Adam gets a chance to advance in his field when he teams up with Kristen Bell’s reporter character, but he sacrifices that when it becomes more important to physically help with the whales. He truly represents the heart and soul of the film. When the hover tug gets bogged down, the rescuers despair. Then the Americans bend to ask the Russians for help from their nearby freighter (no! not the Reds!). Then everyone bonds together to dig five miles worth of breathing holes to meet the Russian freighter and to hopefully get the weakened whales to safety.
The whales are animatronic and a bit clunky, but the story remains compelling. The film does a good job of occasionally cutting away to the rest of the world and their reactions to the rescue attempt. Actual footage of the story from such giants as Dan Rather and Peter Jennings are common and help with the 80s feel.
The one part which I found completely lacking was the chemistry between Adam and Rachel. There’s the tiniest bit, and when Rachel despairs and Adam comforts her, you feel like he’s a friend, not a lover. Even at the end, when he declares his love for her, I couldn’t help but wonder why.
This is a completely safe movie for the kids. I think the worst swear is “Holy crap,” and there is certainly no sex (far too cold at -50 degrees; if anyone worked up a sweat they’d probably freeze together). There isn’t a scrap of violence, unless you count a freighter smashing ice up violent. There is one very sad scene surrounding the baby whale which may upset kids (hell, it upset me!).
Overall, this is one of those movies which is solid and enjoyable, but nothing special to write home about. Despite moments of levity (Adam licks a heliocopter pilot’s frozen shut eye which was more bizarre than funny), it is just lacking somehow in those sparks that make a movie great. My favorite part may have been the footage and photographs of the real people who made the rescue possible. I hope when they make a movie of my life they also cast someone who is far younger and more beautiful than I was at the time. Still if you are looking for a safe family film to show at home, this one fits the bill.
