In the Heart of the Seais about a crew of whalers, but the movie ends with Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) allowing the whale to live.In the Heart of the Seais based on the terrifying true storyof the sinking of The Essex, a whaling ship that had previously been considered a lucky vessel. An enormous whale attacked the ship, destroying it and leaving its crew stranded in the ocean, turning to cannibalism to stay alive. Two of themen who survived The Essex sinkinglater wrote memoirs of the event, one of which would inspireMoby Dick.
While viewers watchingIn the Heart of the Seawill likely recognize the themes and story ofMoby Dick,there are several differences betweenMoby DickandIn the Heart of the Sea, and these begin with the crew.Thecharacters inIn the Heart of the Seaare based on the men who survived the sinking of The Essex, while the story took some liberties with the characters of Captain Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and his first mate, Owen Chase. The real Pollard was a more experienced sailor than Chase, yet this is reversed for the movie, with Chase taking control.
Owen Chase Realized He Wouldn’t Be Able To Defeat This Whale
The Whale Symbolizes A Warning In Moby Dick & In The Heart Of The Sea
At theend ofIn the Heart of the Sea, Owen Chase and the crew see the whale once more when he approaches their tiny rowing boat, with the harpoon still sticking out of him. By this point, the desperate men have already resorted to cannibalism, and it is unlikely that any of them would have the strength to take down the whale. Even if Chase had tried to take revenge, it was more likely that the whale would win if attacked again. The scene has been interpreted in several ways, including seeing the whale’s reappearance as a harbinger.
The movie hints at the struggle to come with its ominous last line.
In the Heart of the Seais not a direct retelling as the story takes place beforeMoby Dickis written, but the whale symbolizes a warning in both stories.Whale oil is so valuable inIn the Heart of the Seathat the characters are willing to risk their lives multiple times. Though the world no longer runs on whale oil, the movie hints at the struggle to come with its ominous last line, when Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) tells Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson): “I hear someone’s found oil by drilling into the ground. Who’d have thought!”
Moby Dick’s Story Reverses Owen Chase And The Whale’s Second Encounter
In The Heart Of The Sea’s Captain Pollard Is The Counterpart To Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab
InMoby Dick,Captain Ahab is so consumed by his desire for revenge that it destroys himand most of his crew,with the whale pulling Ahab into the sea to die.In the Heart of the Seadepicts a character making a different decision when Chase decides not to pursue the whale. Ahab refuses to accept that the whale is the more powerful force, while Chase does, and this saves his life, along with the lives of his crew. Thus, Owen Chase is a complicated character and one ofChris Hemsworth’s best roles.
In The Heart Of The Sea: What Happened To The Real Owen Chase
In the Heart of the Sea is based on the horrifying true story of the shipwreck which inspired Moby Dick. Owen Chase is played by Chris Hemsworth.
While it initially seems that Chase would be the counterpart to Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab inIn the Heart of the Sea, it is Captain Pollard who resembles Ahab more. At the end of the movie, Nickerson explains that all the surviving men, including Chase, returned to whaling, and Pollard led a mission to track down and kill the whale that had attacked and sunk The Essex. However, in bothMoby DickandIn the Heart of the Sea, this expedition is not successful, though Pollard knows when to give up and retires, escaping Ahab’s fate.
In the Heart of the Sea
Cast
Based on the real-life event that inspired Moby Dick, In the Heart of the Sea is directed by Ron Howard and stars Chris Hemsworth as Owen Chase, first mate of the whaling ship Essex who must fight for his life in the middle of the ocean when a whale destroys his ship, killing most of his crew and stranding him and a few survivors on a lifeboat. Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson also star.
