In case you didn’t pay attention to the news in 1988, there was an international incident in 1988 that catapulted to worldwide attention and brought unfriendly people and nations together in a single, unified effort.
Indeed, so many people came together to save the whales.
The big question at the time was “Why bother?” But in retrospect it seems like a no-brainer. California grey whales may not have all of the grandeur of the immense blue whales or the showmanship of narwhals, but whales are whales, right? These are precious beasts of the natural world, the wet spokespeople of conservation, preservation and protection for a hundred years. Only whalers wouldn’t care to see this movie or sympathize greatly.
Big Miracle is indeed about a big miracle. When three whales – a mom, dad and baby grey whale – were found to be trapped, thousands of disparate people rallied to help get them back on their path. Even though the details have been greatly changed for this movie, it still makes for a colossally compelling human drama.
In the movie, Adam Carlson (John Krasinski) is a northern Alaska TV journalist who stumbles upon a hole in the pack ice that the three whales are using to breathe. They can’t go anywhere else and a cold snap is rapidly approaching. This is Point Barrow, the very northern tip of the United States. The Arctic ice cap has cut off the rest of their breathing options along their circuit towards the Pacific Ocean. Only a few miles separate them from their freedom, but a pressure ridge of ice has practically sealed off the end. It would take a big miracle for them to reach open water.
Enter Adam’s ex-girlfriend. Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore) is a fervent Greenpeace activist and a constant thorn in the side of politicians and industrialists alike. The squeaky wheel gets the grease seems to be her motto. With that, she petitions and pesters Governor Haskell (Stephen Root) and oil magnate J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson) to pool their ample resources. McGraw has at his beck and call a hovercraft that could help break the ice along the path to the Pacific.
Getting through that pressure ridge at the end, on the other hand, would require a presidential order. This is the last year of Reagan’s presidency – verily the final breaths of its life – and America is just coming out of a decades-old Cold War with Russia but tensions haven’t thawed that much. Calling Gorbachev to request the assistance of an icebreaker ship would take a massive huge amount of humility.
Even though it is undoubtedly a noble cause, Kramer can’t muster the world to her side without Carlson. His news story about the situation gets picked up by national networks and the media circus that ensues provides all of the public interest for all of the necessary participants to contribute their full involvement. Even Reagan himself calls military helicopter pilot Colonel Scott Boyer (Dermot Mulroney) in the middle of pulling the hovercraft across many miles of unforgiving ice. And yes, the Russian icebreaker was called in for the Hail Mary pass.
Big Miracle is as much about the importance of environmentalism as it is about the importance of the media. Honestly, so much of the movie focuses how newspeople make people pay attention to issues. Struggling journalist Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell) arrives from the contiguous States to cover the story and help it achieve more prominence as much for her purposes as for the whales’. It soon becomes apparent that news coverage is a necessary evil in the small town with a mostly Inuit population.
Jerard says, “The ratings are what’s going to keep the rescue going, which is going to save the whales.”
In reality, the media hindered almost as much as they helped the cause. At one point, a swarm of reporters actually caused the whales to retreat farther away from their salvation.
Regardless, it’s a grand story about caring for the natural world, international co-operation and the power of stories, especially those as told by the media. Big Miracle has the same tenor as Free Willy or Dolphin Tale and is about as family friendly as you can get for a movie that has so much politics, career power play and corporate greed in it. It throws in a touch of respect for aboriginal traditions plus a romantic subplot or two for good measure.
Review
Big Miracle<br />Stars: 4.5<br />Starring: Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Stephen Root, Ted Danson, Dermot Mulroney, Rob Riggle, James Legros and Tim Blake Nelson<br />Directed by: Ken Kwapis<br />Rating: PG<br />Now playing at: Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton and Scotiabank Theatre
