Review: In the Heart of the Sea
The thing about inspiration is it can be less than what it inspires. Such is the case with Ron Howard's latest film, In the Heart of the Sea, based on writer Nathaniel Philbrick's accounting of one of the two real-life events which served as the basis for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
The sinking of the Nantucket ship Essex in 1820, caused by an attack by a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean, had already been put on record by first mate Owen Chase in his 1821 Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, as well as by Thomas Nickerson in his 1876 The Loss of the Ship Essex. Nickerson, who was a fourteen-year-old cabin boy making his first voyage out at sea on the ill-fated Essex, would seem to be the central character given that the tragedy is told by the elderly Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) to Melville (Ben Whishaw) as a means of unburdening the trauma, guilt and shame he has harboured for the past three decades. In truth, he's a mere bystander to the events and somewhat a witness to the interpersonal conflicts between Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker), whose hubristic obstinacy is posited here as a contributing factor in the ship's demise.
Charles Leavitt's screenplay highlights the two men's differences in broad strokes. Chase is the more experienced seaman, but he's had to work hard all his life; it's all too easy to understand his bitterness when the captaincy that he believed was promised to him is instead given to Pollard, not because Pollard has more experience, but because he is, as Chase describes, a greenhorn born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Pollard may hail from privilege but he has the weight of his family's expectations to shoulder, and it is with this certain blind focus - he must prove himself worthy of both his name and rank - that he assumes command of the whaling ship.
Chase and Pollard's complex dynamic could have been the film's backbone, with Chase's resentment and Pollard's insecurity clouding both their judgments. Instead it is jettisoned soon after the crew withstands a storm into which Pollard has steered them. The two men realise they must work together to gather as much of the precious whale oil as the now-damaged ship can hold in order to make it back home in under a year. Leavitt abandons the richness of this strand along with other equally interesting ones, such as Chase's connection and obsession with the great white whale that sinks the Essex and leaves the survivors adrift in the vast and unforgiving ocean. It's mystifying as Leavitt essentially strips the narrative of its emotional engines. There are stretches when stagnancy dominates, though Howard and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle do what they can to at least maintain visual interest.
Of course, one can argue that narrative and characterisation are secondary to the battle between the hunter and its prey. Indeed, the whale is a sight to behold, and the film is at its liveliest whenever it's around. Often viewed from overhead to emphasise how truly impressive and intimidating it is next to the woefully vulnerable ship and its rowboats, the whale is at times more frightening when mere parts of it are visible, such as its tail slapping out from the waters as the men can only look on in both terror and admiration.
The middle section is where In the Heart of the Sea reaches its potential; those 40 or so minutes are classic, visceral storytelling. Even before the whale appears, one completely comprehends the ins and outs of working on a whaling ship and the physical and emotional hardships of being at sea. Perhaps that is why the film's third act, which has the survivors, deprived of food and water, resorting to cannibalism, is strangely unmoving. Every day on the ship was already a test of survival - being away from your loved ones for at least a year and being subject to the whims of Mother Nature.
One can see how this story would have stirred something within Melville, who himself had spent time on a whaling ship. Watching In the Heart of the Sea, however, also makes one see why certain elements were left out of Melville's telling. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but fiction can be more convincing than fact.
In the Heart of the Sea
Directed by: Ron Howard
Written by: Charles Leavitt; based on Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Michelle Fairley, Tom Holland, Frank Dillane, Joseph Mawle
