"The tragedy of the Essex is the story of men.
And a Demon."
Hello everyone!
So this is going to be an upbeat blog post regardless of the rather negative downsides of the story that unfolded in the movie (and the books, of course; let's not forget the books). But the fact remains that I absolutely LOVED it, and couldn't get enough of the movie which I have to get a better copy of, potentially Blu-Ray if I can.
Although ... come to think of it, maybe I don't necessarily need that kind of high-res image of the whale in my brain.
Hmm.
ANYWAY.
This is yet again one of the movies from my vacation hoard, although this one I watched while I was all by my lonesome at the seaside and enjoying some peaceful time away from everything. It was a very cool thing to be able to snuggle down on the veranda and enjoy the sea breeze while watching this. Gave the story some credibility.
I'm talking about In the Heart of the Sea, of course.
I've been roughly keeping track of Chris Hemsworth's career since the moment I saw him in Star Trek back in 2009 for a very brief period of time (to refresh your memories: Chris plays Kirk Sr., the father of James T. Kirk, and dies staying behind on the ship to ensure everyone else gets off alive). I've been very happy with the movies of his I've seen so far, and so when news broke he would be helming ITHOTS, I was thrilled.
Little known fact: in my second year at University, we had an American Literature class for which we were obligated to pick five books off a list given by the professor, which she would then ask us questions about. No one in their right mind ever chose Moby Dick, for its sheer size, but no one ever said I was in my right mind, either. I read the book back then, and loved it.
Never did get asked any questions about it during the exam, though.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I knew the fictional story, but never the truth behind the inspiration, so I was anxious to watch ITHOTS as soon as possible, though sadly I didn't get the chance of going to the theatre. No matter.
Our story begins with Owen Chase, who has been First Mate on whaling ships forever, or so he feels, but has been promised the rank of captain on the next voyage. Sadly, someone named George Pollard is given the rank instead, which immediately sets the two men as adversaries and rivals as soon as their ship, the Essex, sets sail.
Also immediate is the fact that while Pollard may have been given the position because of his place in society, he has virtually no clue what to do with the ship, as evidenced by him sending them straight into a violent storm against the warnings of both Chase and other more experienced sailors.
Some of the tension wears off when they kill a whale, but afterwards they hit a wall as there are absolutely no whale sightings whatsoever.
That is, until they reach Ecuador, where they are told about 'offshore grounds' where no ship can readily sail, where the whales have retreated to survive, and where they are guarded by a 'white whale' who is apparently the Devil incarnate.
Not quite believing this, Pollard orders their new course, and they do in fact find the whales.
Unluckily for them, however, they also find the White Whale.
This is a huge, monster of a bull who actually does protect the rest of his smaller brethren, and he pretty much decimates the Essex without bothering to use full force. The survivors escape in three boats, not that they're safe.
The White Whale is on a quest for vengeance.
He stalks and hunts them down until he maroons them on Dulcie Island, which is barely more than a spit of land, where they eventually decide to leave (except for a small number who decline; Chase later sends back a boat for them, miraculously finding them alive). The boats leave, and once again, just when they think they might even make it if they don't die of thirst or starvation, thar she blows.
Yeah, it's the Whale again. He's there to make sure he's properly cowed them.
While Pollard urges Chase to hit the thing with their makeshift spear, Chase refuses and at that point, the whale finally leaves them alone and returns back to his flock.
Two of the boats are eventually rescued and the survivors return to their home port like wraiths, much to the delight of their families. The Company wants both Pollard and Chase to give statements that their boat ran argound as opposed to the truth, but first Chase and then Pollard declines this, stating clearly and for the record that the Essex was downed by a 'great, white whale'.
Not that it matters since the officials fabricate the report anyway.
The story ends with the news that Pollard went after the Whale again but ran his ship aground and resigned from the position of captain; Chase moved his family to New Bedford and became a merchant captain, basically his own head honcho; and Nickerson, a young boy who as a man tells Melville this story, now owns a boarding house where he and Melville share their drink over the night of the tale.
Melville promises Nickerson to publish the story under a different name, and without using all the details of what the men from the Essex had to do to survive out at sea (cannibalism, anyone?). The movie ends with news that someone had struck oil deeper inland, which marks the moment when whale hunting for oil basically became extinct.
Man, I loved this movie.
Sure, it was gritty, and gruesome, and psychologically scary with that big monster of a thing hunting after the guys in their tiny little boats. I will also cheerfully admit that I made the mistake of watching this movie at the seaside ... let me tell you, the next morning was an interesting exercise of me and swimming in the sea. Logically, you know that in waters that aren't over five or six metres deep, there can't be anything of that monstrous size.
All the same though, I didn't linger. I did my routine swim, and got the heck out of dodge to work on my tan for the rest of the morning.
The cast was superb. Next to Chris we had Benjamin Walker as Captain Pollard, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson (aka Mad-Eye Moody, ladies and gentlemen), Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark) and Michelle Fairley, to name only a few. They really brought the whole thing to life.
And of course, the sea: you can never go wrong with a movie as long as there's the sea.
If you haven't yet watched this movie, I highly recommend it, even if you just want to watch Chris Hemsworth run around barefoot (what is it with these characters of his? James Hunt was barefooted a lot, too!).
xx
*images and video not mine
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