Talkie Tuesday: Big Miracle

"We're going to help free the whales."

Hello everyone!

In continuing with the tone I set last Thursday, I'm coming to you with something slightly different tonight, or at the very least different to what most of the movies I review are about.

Most of them are pretty funny, light-hearted, fluffy sort of peaces that occasionally put in some action sequences or have something funny for us to laugh about, but I've realized I apparently don't often watch biographies or things like that.

True stories, and inspired by true stories, are rare for me because I generally watch things to forget about the real world, and to turn my mind off from it.

Every once in a while, however, there's something that you just HAVE to see.

When it's all about whales, then you DEFINITELY have to see it.

Big Miracle is just one of those things. You can't not. That's all I'm going to say on the matter before diving right in!

If anyone's wondering, Big Miracle is a John Krasinski movie, and in all honesty if you've followed John's career for any amount of time, it's likely you've stumbled across some of his work, noticed how insanely good he is, and then went on to hunt down more of his stuff.

I'll admit I've seen this one when it was first released, way back when, because even then it sounded like something of a must, but when it was airing again on television here I figured, why not?

It's been a while, after all.

And for those wondering, Big Miracle is based on real events which happened in 1988, called Operation Breakthrough.

But I digress.

The movie starts with Adam (Krasinski) who's a reporter in Point Barrow, Alaska, but wants bigger and "better" things in his future which may even consist of going further south while he's at it, where there isn't an almost constant cover of snow.

He's quite close with the Inupiat community in Point Barrow, having been with them for long enough that he understands their culture, which makes him the point man for later, as you'll see.

Because first, he has to spot something.

While out on a random outing to shoot some snowmobile action (that isn't much action to begin with) he spies what seems to be air jetting out from the ice, and it turns out to be whales. And not just one, but a family of them, and they're actually gray whales, not the typical kind that's used to breaking the ice with their heads, so these ones are already injured by this point.

They're also unfortunately stuck.

See in that year, winter, and with it the ice, came early to Alaska, blocking several passages, and not only that but the ice just kept getting thicker, meaning there was virtually no way for the whales to travel around the continent to warmer seas.

Adam's coverage sparks a debate across the country, even garnering the attention of the president's people, but most importantly that of his ex-girlfriend, Rachel (Drew Barrymore), who, as a Greenpeace volunteer, spends most of her time pre-whales making things difficult for the oil companies and their drilling, attempting to make them see what they're doing to the planet.

Arriving in Alaska right along with a group of other news reporters who've all come to cover the story, Rachel is miffed Adam didn't call her about the whales from the get-go, and being a naturally bossy woman she strikes out to take charge.

It's a rather good interpretation and representation of the way white people often times appear to indigenous settlers, coming in to their homes and telling them all they're doing is wrong, as Rachel accuses the Inupiats of being straight-up murderers when the elders discuss not helping the whales, but harvesting them for food, as has been their tradition for years and years before any white man ever set foot in Alaska.

Thankfully she's got Adam there to hold her back just a smidge, otherwise she might have done more damage than good, but as it happens, one of the Inuit chiefs understands her mindset more than she knows.

He points out that all the world will see is the butchery - not the traditions the Inuits hold sacred and dear, which means that to be able to live as they've always lived, they have to give a little and work ALONGSIDE the rest, to help free the whales.

This is what then sparks Operation Breakthrough, which turns out into an international cooperative effort later on; see it begins with an oil company offering the services of their hover barge, and the National Guard pulling it up to break the ice barrier. Dermot Murloney certainly disagrees with the importance of this mission, but he goes along with it and even catches himself an admirer in one of the president's people, Kelly, who's trying incredibly hard to make this a good thing for the Reagan administration.

She somehow lands herself a Colonel in the process. Who'd have thought!

How does it all become international, you ask?

Well, first, the group of journalists increases by virtually every important news station in the world (including Kristen Bell's character whom Adam has a bit of a crush on until he realizes that she's just a woman on a mission, to climb the corporate journalist ladder and cover the "big" stories), people from all over fly up to Alaska to try and help free the whales (including two guys with what look to be home-made fans for a Jacuzzi, which ends up helping to melt the ice when all else fails), and then the hover barge ... doesn't make it.

Unfortunately, the icy conditions make it impossible to bring the barge over, which means the National Guard is pissed off they couldn't complete the mission, and the lot of them pitch in when a different plan is concocted: 

they'll be calling the Russians.

Initially sparking heated debated (because it's obvious that in this movie, no American wants help from a Russian), it's eventually agreed to call the near-by ice-breaker that had previously heard all about the whales, and men were making bets on whether or not they're going to be called.

But contrary to that, it's a touching moment to see all the Russians making a toast when, sadly, the whale calf, affectionately named Bam-Bam, doesn't survive a bout of what looks to be some sort of disease. The effort then picks up speed with the hole drilling so they can lead the whales to the massive ice wall the Russians are going to try to break through.

And even the Russians are skeptical about it once they actually see it.

Or at least, most of the men on the bridge are. The captain, he's got other ideas.

In what has to be my favourite scene of the entire movie, it's suddenly ice against Mother Russia, and the look on the captain's face when they tell him the ice might be too thick, plus the hull might have taken damage after two attempts to break through, is EVERYTHING.

And I mean EVERYTHING.

Captain: "Again."
First Mate: "It might be too late."
Captain + glare of death: "30 knots."
First Mate: "... full speed ahead!"
Americans on the ice: Oh my God that Ruski's crazy!

Needless to say, third time's the charm, at least in the movie, and the wall is broken, allowing Fred and Vilma, the whale parents, to finally escape.

After this, things return to normal in Point Barrow, with a little slide-show of what happens to the characters after the operation: the Colonel gets to marry his lady, Kristen Bell's character goes on to the big leagues, the oil company comes out on top (as usual really), and Adam and Rachel take another chance on their relationship, after Adam turns down offers to work further south, and stays up in Alaska.

Because, at the end of the day, there's no place like home.

Even the whales fighting to get out of there agree!

Poignant, inspirational, full to the brim with both funny and emotional moments, Big Miracle is one of those movies you just HAVE to watch. If not for that Ruski at the end, you have to watch it for the effort put into rescuing those whales. The cast knocks it right out of the park, and I swear, Krasinski doesn't know how to make a bad movie.

So if you have two hours to spare, and I suggest you spare them, I'd sit down and watch this movie.

Because it's absolutely beautiful.

xx

*images and video not mine