In the movie “Big Miracle,” based on the true story of the 1988 international rescue of whales trapped under ice, the differences between the customs, beliefs and values of the “melting pot” of American citizens are fully exposed.
Rather than simply exposing these issues, “Big Miracle” paints an accurate picture of how one event can force someone to question their position in life.
Stuck in the northernmost city of the United States, in a small town named Barrow, Alaska, reporter Adam Carlson (John Krasinski, “The Office”) is bored with his broadcast career and constantly dreams of going down to “The Lower 48.”
Yet while up in this town, Carlson befriends a local Inupiat boy in the town, Nathan (newcomer Ahmaogak Sweeney), and Carlson discovers the story of his career — one that captures the attention of the entire world.
Three California gray whales are trapped beneath thick sheets of ice covering the Beaufort Sea, preventing them from swimming down the coast and breeding in Baja.
Coming up to breathe through a small hole in the ice outside of town, they will not survive very long unless the ice is forcibly cracked, allowing the whales to swim back into the open sea. Environmental activists, most prominently Greenpeace worker Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore, “He’s Just Not That Into You”), protest to save these whales’ lives, while the native Inupiat people are satisfied with harpooning the suffering animals and harvesting them.
This movie is suspenseful at times, especially when a particular plan to rescue the whales stalls or even fails, and funny at others, like the interactions between Nathan and Adam. It is also exemplary at exposing the issues between oil tycoons — in this movie, J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson, “Bored to Death”) — and environmental workers, as well as the differences between the same environmental workers hoping to protect animals and the Inupiat people who hunt in order to survive.
While each individual part is portrayed well, the interactions between characters often felt forced, especially with the love triangle that is supposedly occurring between Carlson and Kramer (who, coincidentally, previously dated) and Carlson and Los Angeles television reporter Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell, “Burlesque”). The emotions seemed fake and overdone, and the dialogue between the parties was silly and unrealistic.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
