In the Heart of the Sea
The difference between a novel and a film comes in due to the restrictions set for the length. Films always fall between lengths of 60 and 120 minutes, although they have to record all the events relevant in the story leading to the film. “In the Heart of the Sea” is a film that gets its story from the book by the same name that features the story of the great ship, Essex that was destroyed by an enormous albino whale in the great Atlantic Ocean. The story of the Essex had been untold for a long time since most writers were obsessed with the Titanic incident and had forgotten about other sea accidents. The story of the Essex had been told in another book, “Moby Dick” but had not received the details needed and most people did not believe that the story was real or a work of fiction. The story of Essex has been compressed into a film to make the acting fit for entertainment although the original story is not fiction but based on a true story.
Compression
The narration of a story and accompanying with the relevant action may take a long time before the whole story is presented. However, films have a restriction that everything in the story should be presented in the shortest time possible. The average time for a single film is between one and two hours, although some films may be longer or shorter. The story of the Essex, however, took place over a longer time and thus the story was a long one. The events building the story were also several and required some significant time for complete narration. Converting the story into a film would need a lot of efforts and a quick application of compression to come up with a film that meets the requirements of length and also covers the whole story (Heather, 257). For example, the story of whale-hunting has to take readers back to several years to show the gradual change from farming as an economic activity to whale hunting for oil. The events in the novel also had to cater for the time that whaleboats were expected to spend in a hunting experience. Under normal circumstances, a whale hunting journey was expected to take at least two years. Therefore, the events that happened for the two years since the Essex left the shore had to be considered in the film. The dangers in the sea were also several, and each event carried significant weight and had to be incorporated into the film.
Compression was the best strategy that offered the director to the film, “In the Heart of the Sea” a chance to present all the events of the story in one film. The clever use of compression made the film to become a great success among the followers. The success of a film that was much similar to the Titanic required a lot of efforts since people would have thought that “In the Heart of the Sea” was a fiction story aimed at creating attention from desperate viewers (Philbrick). One of the options that the director of the film would have used to present the movie was a period description of events. However, the director decided to use an interview between him and one of the survivors of the Essex incident with a combination of play and action to compress the story into a film. The compression of events left some events that would only be mentioned such as the prophecy about whale hunting: “There… is a green pasture where our children’s grandchildren will go for bread”. Nickerson had escaped death while working as a cabin boy during the incident and only surfaced in his old age during his interview with Melville concerning the Essex incident. The choice to interview Nickerson would, however, appear to have robbed the film a chance to present the contribution of Nickerson to the development of the story. Nickerson gave a story about his experience along with his friends and only gave the positive side of his story and had to defend the actions that the crew engaged in during the voyage. However, the choice to compress less significant events gave the director to compile all the relevant information in a single film and ended up with a great piece of work.
Acting
The depiction of characters is always aimed at presenting a real-life experience. “In the Heart of the Sea” is a non-fiction story and thus the characters are expected to show their real character out of acting. The story starts with several characters, but death snatches most of the characters in the deep sea. The attack by the Whale on the Essex brought death to several crewmen (Slattery, 290). Also, the conditions that followed the destruction of the ship led to several deaths on the journey back. The remaining crewmen were forced to resort to cannibalizing their fellow crew members to survive back home. Most crew members died on their journey back. The experience in the sea led to the transformation of several members of the crew. Owen Chase was one of the eight men who survived the attack by a white whale on the Essex. The total number of men who had embarked on the journey through the sea was twenty-one. Owen Chase was the leader of the surviving members and had to make critical decisions towards the decision on whether to go back home or to continue to nearby islands. Although the films attempt to sugarcoat the character of Chase, the actions that Chase attempted were only reflective of what a normal man would do when faced with danger. In real life, Chase presents the common reaction that an individual will give in the event of danger. However, the reaction of Chase towards the end of the film happens to portray a rather complicated design that leaves a chance for different interpretations from different people.
The character of Chase is presented in the form of dilemma by the director. Chase is the whaler who comes closest to killing the whale. However, Chase foregoes the opportunity of coming out as the winner against a creature that had cost him the lives of most of his friends. The whale moves close to the boat in which Chase is in and presents an opportunity for Chase to strike and kill the whale. The explanation given in the film is that Chase considered the position of the creature in nature and decided to save its life (Dawn, 107). The creature is also presented as to have appreciated the move by Chase since it turned back and disappeared peacefully into the sea. Several interpreters have interpreted the event as the incorporation of fiction into non-fiction work. The motivation behind the decision that Chase took could have been other factors other than a passion for nature. For example, Chase could have considered the damage that the creature could cost him since it was close to the boat, and the creature would be involved in dangerous death throbs. The event appears to have been fictionalized in the film since the reason was given by Chase in his records does not give nature the position given in the field (Colin, 122). Chase agrees in his records that he would have killed the creature were it not for the distance between him and the creature. Also, the film gives an untrue account of Chase’s transformation after the experience in front of the whale. The director to the film notes that Chase left whale-chasing upon going back to the land. However, the accounts by Chase state that Chase did not give up on his job as a whale chaser and spend the rest of his life in the industry.
Closure
A films closure is crucial in bringing out the intended message. The film, “In the Heart of the Sea” however does not appear to have a clear ending. The closing events appear to leave different perceptions among viewers concerning the characters. The initial stages of the film give a picture of sea men putting themselves in the dangers of the sea to emerge victorious and wealth. The attention of the viewers is based on whether the crew members will make the journey back home safe and with their wealth. However, the expectations of the viewers change throughout the film, and at some point, the main concern is whether any of the crew members will survive the danger encountered. However, the film still gave the viewers the hope that the remaining crew members would win the battle for their fallen fellow members. For example, the event that involved the encounter between Chase and the whale promised a chance for Chase to kill the whale finally. The film appeared to be headed for a happy ending even for the few remaining hunters and the people back in the island. Again, the film’s heading takes a twist when Chase fails to kill the whale. The chance left for contradicting explanations on the reason why Chase did not kill the creature further made the film not to have a clear closure. Some viewers believed that the Crew members had finally realized that their activities were harmful to a nature that instead required their protection. However, another section of viewers believed that the decision by Chase proved the inability that the men chosen for the job were unfit and that the whale had power over them all through. Owen Chase also came clear on his decision in a different account to claim that the whale had come too close and killing it would further worsen the disaster.
In sum, “In the Heart of the Sea” was adapted into a great film. The use of compression was strategic in avoiding the expected stuffiness associated with period narratives. The characters were portrayed according to their real characters, and Owen Chase was one of the characters featured in the film. The film, however, does not appear to have a clear outcome, and the interpretation of the ending has been, to some extent left for the viewers.
Works Cited
Berlin, Heather A. “Communicating Science: Lessons from Film.” Trends in immunology 37.4 (2016): 256-260.
Coleman, Dawn. “Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex: The Complete Illustrated Edition: The Extraordinary and Distressing Memoir that Inspired Herman Melville’s by Owen Chase.” Leviathan 17.3 (2015): 106-107.
Dewey, Colin. “Surviving the Essex: The Afterlife of America’s Most Storied Shipwreck by David O. Dowling, and: The Essex and the Whale: Melville’s Leviathan Library and the Birth of Moby-Dick ed. by RD Madison.” Leviathan 19.3 (2017): 121-125.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the heart of the sea: The tragedy of the whaleship Essex. Penguin Books, 2015.
Slattery, Dennis Patrick. “In the Heart of the Sea.(2015). Directed By Ron Howard.” Psychological Perspectives 59.2 (2016): 288-290.
Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. “In the Heart of the Sea dir. by Ron Howard.” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal 46.2 (2016): 96-98.