In The Heart Of The Sea
Early in December, Joy and I saw several advertisements and movie trailers for a Ron Howard production of a movie called In The Heart Of The Sea. This promised to be a swashbuckling recounting of the New England whaling ship, Essex, sinking by a giant whale in 1820.
The sinking of the Essex was an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby Dick. So, as the novel has always been a favorite of both Joy and I, over the holiday season, I decided to treat us both to a rare night at the cinema.
Inspired from the real life whaling expedition of the Essex thirty years prior, Herman Melville's Moby Dick was universally acclaimed to be one of the greatest seafaring tales ever told, and was the story of the whaling ship and crew who relentlessly hunted a legendary white sperm whale which had been the thorn in the side of any whaling expeditions in the Pacific.
However, Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is an entirely different take on Moby Dick, an entirely different vantage that pays tribute to the most beloved tales of all times. The plot begins with Herman Melville visiting Nickerson, a survivor of the whaler ship Essex. Believing the tale to be the greatest story he had ever come across, Melville is hell bent on squeezing out the horror from Nickerson's eyes so that he could write his own fictional account.
Although In The Heart Of The Sea is not actually a production of Herman Melville's novel, both tales were borne from the same true story, so after listening to several old time radio adaptations of Moby Dick and the whaler ship Pequod in the past, I wondered if Ron Howard would be able to capture the gigantic beast's presence, as a cinematic production, in comparison to what the mind's eye conjures in those excellent radio shows from over sixty years before.
Well, it certainly didn't disappoint! The whale is a formidable opponent when driven to defend itself, and makes an absolute mess of the Essex, with some of the best graphics I've ever seen in a movie. It's tail, as broad as a house, can easily dash a flimsy whaleboat to smithereens, and the brooding, dark and desolate times when the whale hauntingly stalks the survivors as they float in small boats in the vastness of the Pacific, knowing that they are all at the whale's mercy, really is edge-of-your-seat viewing.
But for me, it was the profound psychological insights into human behaviour which ultimately makes this movie such a success. Perhaps that's even better than the power of our own imagination. I don't want to give any spoilers away though, just in case you're planning a visit to the cinema yourself!
Before the movie, I had decided to dig out some of the Moby Dick classic old time radio shows, which had actually tied in nicely with the introduction of a new series to RUSC, The Radio Adventure Theater, who had also produced an adaptation of Moby Dick. So, after the movie had finished and we'd grabbed a bite to eat, Joy and I drove home, listening to one of these old time radio adaptations (using RUSC mobile of course! - m.rusc.com) You can listen to any of these by clicking here.
There's also a show about Herman Meville himself which you can listen to here:-
Cavalcade of America - Down To The Sea
Was it as good as Ron Howard's blockbuster? Well I think you should go and see it for yourself, and then you can tell me in the comments below what you think?
Happy listening my friends,
