“…Or do the stories only exist to make us respect the sea’s dark secrets?” Photos courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.
In the Heart of the Sea tells the story of the Essex, a whaling ship that was sunk in 1820, leaving eight survivors. And hey! Did you know? The story partially inspired Moby Dick!
The movie follows Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), first mate to George Pollard, Jr. (Benjamin Walker) aboard the Essex. Pollard received his station because of his family ties in Nantucket, a fact which becomes a source of tension between him and Chase, who was promised his own captaincy but instead is asked to babysit Pollard. After some risky sailing in an attempt to be rid of each other faster, Pollard and Chase come upon a field of sperm whales thousands of miles off the coast of South America, but are sunk by a monsterous specimen, scarred by several encounters with whalers, which displays keen insight in attacking their ship. Marooned, they must drift in the longboats back home from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Also! Thirty years later, innkeeper Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson, Tom Holland in his scenes as a teenager), a survivor of the Essex, is visited by Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw), the very same now-famous author who penned American classic Moby Dick! Because, if you didn’t know, that book is partially based on the tale of the Essex.
This article has been written several times in several places, I’m just going to try to put it all in one place.
Reel Entropy 