Big Miracle

Posted on February 2, 2012 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for language
Profanity:	Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, character gets tipsy
Violence/ Scariness:	Human and animal characters in peril, references to hunting and eating whales, sad animal death
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 3, 2012
Date Released to DVD:	June 18, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005LAIGQ4

“You’re not as easy to hate as I thought,” an oil man tells an environmental activist in “Big Miracle,” the heartwarming true story of a 1987 effort to rescue three Alaskan whales. It could just as well have been said by any of the more than a dozen lead characters who find themselves part of a “cockeyed coalition.” People who viewed each other with suspicion, if not downright animosity, are brought together to save a family of whales affectionately named after Flintstones characters.

The obstacle for the whales was five miles of ice that had to be cut away in sub-zero temperatures so the whales could get to the ocean. The bigger obstacle was the struggle for the humans to try to find a way to work together.

“Big Miracle” is the story of a rescue operation put together by people who each wanted something different. Native Inupiat whale hunters wanted to “harvest” (kill and eat) the whales. Environmentalists wanted to protect them. The US military did not want to ask for help from a Soviet ice cutting ship. An oil developer wanted to improve his reputation. Two Minnesota entrepreneurs wanted to show off their ice melting machine. Politicians wanted to look good or look innocent. And journalists wanted a story.

Director Ken Kwapis and screenwriters Jack Amiel and Michael Begler deftly keep the multi-character story from getting too cluttered with the help of appealing performances that give us an instant connection to the humans who are literally trying to save the whales. Standouts in the cast include John Krasinski as a television reporter who is tired of being stuck in a backwater where nothing exciting happens, Kathy Baker as an unexpected supporter with inside information, Dermot Mulroney as a frustrated military officer, and John Pingayeck on his first movie role as a grandfather trying to teach his grandson to listen to the world outside his earphones.

When the reporter’s story is picked up for a national broadcast, the first to arrive is Rachel (an earnest and believably bedraggled Drew Barrymore). She is an environmental activist with no resources but a good story. One by one, those who resist getting involved revise their positions when they are in the spotlight. No one wants to risk bad publicity–or pass up the chance to look heroic.

Even as the people come together, the logistical challenge becomes overwhelming and — parent alert — the ultimate rescue is bittersweet, not entirely triumphant.

The people stories, especially a trumped-up romantic triangle, are not as intriguing as the portrayal of pre-Internet news media. With only three network news broadcasts just half an hour each evening, everyone from school children to White House staffers watched the same stories. The archival footage is like the hub that holds all the parts of the story together, and there are some pointed jabs at media focus on the sensational over the significant.

A turning point comes when White House aide Kelly Meyers (based on Bonnie Carroll) persuades President Ronald Reagan, at the end of his term, to call on his counterpart in the USSR for help from a Soviet ice cutting ship. (Be sure to watch for photos of Carroll’s real life wedding to the military officer she met at the rescue over the closing credits.).

Meyers sets up a “Hello Gorby, this is Ronnie” phone call that serves as a literal ice breaker for the whales and a metaphorical one for two nations in the very earliest stages of post-Evil Empire relations. The people saved the whales, but the real miracle was that they learned their differences were small compared to what they had in common with each other and with the giant mammals who needed their help.

Parents should know that this movie includes animal and human peril and references to hunting and eating whales. One of the whales dies (off-screen).

Family discussion: How many different reasons did the characters have for helping the whales? How did the risk of bad publicity or the benefits of good publicity change their behavior? What is different now from the era when this took place?

If you like this, try: “Free Willy” and “Whale Rider” and the book about the real-life rescue by Tom Rose

The Real Story: ‘Big Miracle’ and the Alaskan Whale Rescue

Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:59 pm

This week’s “Big Miracle” is about the real-life story of the 1988 rescue effort to save three trapped whales in Alaska. The film is based in part on Big Miracle, the book by journalist Tom Rose, who covered the story. As portrayed in the film, the rescue became a national news story and the turning point was an unprecedented phone call from President Ronald Reagan to the Soviet Union to get the cooperation of a Soviet ice-cutting ship. And as also portrayed in the film, the story attracted more than 150 journalists from around the world to tiny, frozen Barrow, Alaska, lat. 71°23’N and long. 156°30’W, where the locals charged them outrageous amounts for transportation, lodging, and equipment. The affectionate nicknames given to the whales were not the Flintstones character names depicted in the movie. The rescuers called the whales Crossbeak, Bonnet, and Bone. Possibly the most improbable story in the movie is the one that is closest to the truth. The White House aide working on coordinating the President’s involvement and the military officer working on the rescue in Alaska did fall instantly in love. Stay through the credits and you will see their wedding photo.

The film focuses on the challenges of the arctic conditions and the bigger challenges of finding a way for the humans to set aside their differences for a common goal. It also touches on some ot the darker themes Rose addresses more extensively in his book, as indicated by its original title: Freeing The Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Greatest Non-Event Rose points out that the Soviet ice-cutting ship portrayed in the media of the time and the movie of today as the whale-saver was actually in Alaska as a part of the USSR’s whale-slaughter industry, the largest in the world at the time of the rescue and for many years after. Rose’s book explores the role of the media in what a cynical character in the movie calls “cat up a tree” stories. The rescue of the three whales had enormous public appeal, but all around it were stories the media overlooked that were more important by any measure. Rose calculated that the cost of the rescue and media coverage was more than $5.7 million.

“e came to tell the world about a common occurrence,” he wrote “the routine stranding of three whales under a patch of ice. The only thing that made this stranding extraordinary was that it happened just 20 miles from a satellite uplink earth station. Had the facility been located far away, these whales, like dozen of others each year, would have died ordinary deaths.”

The movie shows how all of the participants in the rescue used or tried to use the media for their own purposes, including Greenpeace, which had to bring in more people to answer phones as calls came in from all over the world and the oil man portrayed in the film by Ted Danson. Rose writes:

The $500,000 ARCO spent on Operation Breakout was one of the best investments it ever made. A $20 million public relations campaign couldn’t have bought a tenth the goodwill ARCO earned helping free the three trapped whales. It seemed to be perfect timing. ARCO cashed in at a critical juncture in the history of the slumping Alaskan oil industry. No oil company in Alaska ever received more favorable press coverage than ARCO did during its two week investment in Operation Breakout. Usually the rich whipping boy of the environmentalists, ARCO now worked side by side with Cindy Lowry and Greenpeace. In the game of P.R. Pac-Man, ARCO swallowed any hint of criticism by pouring tremendous resources into a rescue destined to save three animals endangered by nature, not man’s insatiable carving for fossil fuels.

Of course, ARCO’s work on behalf of the three whales stranded in Barrow did nothing to clean up its share of the more than 11,000 acres of North Slope Arctic tundra the Environmental Protection Agency said were ruined by oil drilling.

We don’t know what happened to the whales who made it out. We do know that the media has changed in many ways since 1988 but still focuses on cute, upbeat, human (and animal) interest stories instead of big, complicated, less upbeat stories. The same could be said for “inspired by a true story” movies, but this one has enough respect for its audience to include a witty coda that is sure to spark some worthwhile conversations.

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Red Carpet: Drew Barrymore Comes to Town for ‘Big Miracle’

Posted on January 26, 2012 at 12:11 pm

Drew Barrymore came to Washington for the premiere of her new film, Big Miracle, about the extraordinary real-life rescue of whales stranded in Alaska in 1987. I had a blast on the red carpet, talking to the real-life characters who inspired the film as well as Barrymore, her young co-star Ahmaogak Sweeney, writers Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, and director Ken Kwapis.

It was a special treat to speak to Bonnie Carroll, who was working in the White House in 1987 when the whales were discovered and coordinated President Reagan’s involvement. She told me that when she got on the phone for the first time with the military officer overseeing the rescue, she fell in love with him as soon as she heard his voice. “I was in the West Wing and he was in Barrow, Alaska. Just hearing his voice — we both knew, and we were together from then on.” The closing credits of the movie show their real-life wedding photo. “The world came together for the whales,” she said. “My husband was the kind of leader who could make something like that happen.” The premiere last night honored the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) program she founded following the death of her husband. Bonnie and her husband are played by Vinessa Shaw and Dermot Mulroney in the film.

I also spoke to Cindy Lowry, the environmental activist who inspired the character played by Drew Barrymore in the film. They spent a lot of time together and Barrymore wanted to know everything about where she lived and even what she wore. “She’s really passionate about the things she cares about and has an appreciation for why I am so passionate about whales.” Barrymore talked about the way Lowry inspired her. “She’s willing to cross boundaries and be very forceful, but it is always in a very informed way, to articulate your point and do it with flair.”

Director Ken Kwapis: “When I read the script, what I fell in love with was the idea of a group of people with different agendas, often competing agendas, who had to figure out a way to set aside their differences and solve a problem. That’s what attracted me, this idea of unlikely collaborators who have to work together. I also fell in love with the whales! They made me cry. The fact that they were trapped in this hole. I found it very emotional. The reason to see the film is the emotional experience. There’s spectacle, there’s humor, there’s romance, there’s wonderful characters but it is really an emotion picture. Alaska was beautiful, the people were fantastic, but it was very cold and there was a dearth of daylight. I had a huge ensemble cast and many of them had never worked in front of a camera. And on top of that, we had three gigantic robotic whales that worked — most of the time! There’s something for every member of the family — a wonderful coming of age story, a romantic triangle, a lot of layers.” This was his second time working with Drew Barrymore (they did “He’s Just Not That Into You”). “I wanted someone who could be very forceful and at the same time very accessible. As strong as she is, she wears her heart on her sleeve. Audiences love her for that. ”

Amiel and Begler were writing sit-coms when they got a copy of the book about the whale rescue by journalist Tom Rose, who inspired the character played by John Krasinski. They bought the rights for $1 (Rose was paid more later when the movie went into production) and worked for 15 years to get it made. “People all showed up for their own reasons but got involved in a story that became a massive cause for them. There were oil companies and Greenpeace and the Reagan Administration and Inupiat whalers all coming together for what seemed like their own purpose and it ended up being everyone’s purpose,” Amiel said. “It was important to me to show all sides in this movie, and I think we did.”

First-time actor Ahmaogak Sweeney told me why kids should see the movie:

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