Big Miracle

[lety]

T

Big Miracle is inspired by the true story of a family of three grey whales trapped outside the small town of Barrow, Alaska in 1998, as chronicled in Tom Rose's 1989 book, Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Greatest Non-Event. John Krasinski (The Office) stars as Adam Carlson, a TV reporter who longs for a chance to leave Alaska news behind for a job in a bigger market. While out covering the local color of Barrow, he and a kid from the town, Nathan (Ahmaogak Sweeney), accidentally stumble upon the whales. The three trapped creatures must come to the surface for air in the only tiny patch of sea free from ice. But with the temperature dipping, their one ice-free area is threatening to freeze over, spelling death for the whales. And even if they're able to keep the little bit of sea open for breathing purposes, they're still miles from the open ocean with no possible means of making it to freedom without help.

 

And that's where Adam, the reporter with visions of escaping Alaska, comes into play. He does a story on the whales which gets picked up by Tom Brokaw. That bit of exposure on the NBC Nightly News leads to a rush of reporters descending upon Barrow, and to Adam becoming a recognizable face in the crowd. His stock goes up, as do the survival odds for the whales who now have a worldwide audience hanging on to every bit of news regarding their predicament. And, of course, Greenpeace is involved from the get-go and becomes one of the driving forces in obtaining help from the government. Activist Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore) begs, pleads, cries, and screams in order to get the most unlikeliest of allies - the Alaska National Guard, a big oil executive (played by Ted Danson), Barrow whaling captains, and even President Reagan and his staff - working together toward the common goal of freeing the whales.

But everything they attempt to do just isn't enough.

 

 

 

he trapped whales should be the heart and soul of the movie, but director Ken Kwapis and screenwriters Jack Amiel and Michael Begler opted to spend a little too much time on human relationships, including a weird flirty thing between John Krasinski's good guy reporter dude and Kristen Bell as an LA fish-out-of-water Barbie who only sees the whales as a story that will further her career. Yes, Krasinski's Adam also looks upon the trapped creatures as a way to get ahead, but he has his priorities straight and actually cares about the whales' welfare first, with career advancement a distant second. And giving Krasinski one love interest apparently wasn't enough as he also has to handle a romantic entanglement with Drew Barrymore's Greenpeace activist character. Adam and Rachel used to date, and there's still a spark between the two that you just know by the time the whales are freed will have reignited into a full-fledged romance.

The film also touches on the relationship that springs up between the National Guard Colonel Scott Boyer (Dermot Mulroney) and White House staff member Kelly Meyers (played by Vinessa Shaw). The relationship is based on the true story of Colonel Tom Carroll, who passed away in a tragic plane crash a few years after the events of the film, and Reagan administration aide Bonnie Mersinger. The two spoke by phone as the efforts to rescue the whales were getting underway, and the real Bonnie says she knew just from speaking to Tom that she'd marry him - even before they met. It's a sweet story which deserves the time spent on it in the film, even at the expense of visits with the whales.

Big Miracle does point the finger at big oil, and Barrymore has to deliver a couple of passionate/sanctimonious speeches as expected. The Alaskan villagers are alternately made out to be the villains and then the saviors of the piece, but never is the story really about them, other than for a few brief minutes in which the captains debate killing the trapped whales (even though grey whales are not harvested for food). That's too bad as the Barrow natives seem like an interesting lot in the short time the film spends with them.