《海洋深处》

    Ron Howard’s new movie starring Chris Hemsworth tells the story of the whaling voyage* that helped inspire Herman Melville to write “Moby-Dick.”

    The framing device of an author — in this case the young Melville (Ben Whishaw) — interviewing, in 1850, the last surviving member of the ship’s crew, Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), is very old-school.

    What Melville is after is the full and true story of what happened to the sailors who famously had their ship capsized* by a white whale the size of which no one had ever seen. Like his late crewmates, Nickerson has never spoken of what happened since then, and it takes a large amount of cash for the poor man to open up. But he does, and here is the story.

    In 1820, Nantucket was the whaling capital of the world. The men would sail off for a year or more and often meet new offspring* for the first time upon their return. That’s the future that may be in store for headstrong* seaman Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), who thinks he should captain the refurbished* Essex, but has to accept the post of the first mate to the owner’s son George Pollard (Benjamin Walker).

    Essex sails into the South Atlantic, where a whale is hauled in* and processed.

    A measure of personal drama is sustained via the resentment* of the capable working-class Chase for the rich boy Pollard, who can’t really pretend he knows what he’s doing and at the first sign of trouble wants to return to port.

    But not being able to find whales, the men sail around Cape Horn and into the Pacific, hoping to stockpile* 2,000 pounds of whale oil. During a stop in Ecuador, they hear tall tales of a “demon” whale that’s sent at least one ship to its doom*, as well as of an abundance* of whales a thousand leagues west. So after more than a year at sea, they set off on a voyage to what Nickerson calls “the edge of sanity*.”

    Sure enough, they find not just plenty of whales, but The Big One they’ve been hearing about. The Essex capsizes and poor Captain Pollard has no choice but to abandon* ship, which forces the survivors onto the three remaining launches some 3,000 miles from Easter Island, the nearest known land. It’s a story of great personal misfortune and tragedy.(SD-Agencies)