Moby Dick - 'In the Heart of the Sea'

Moby Dick - 'In the Heart of the Sea'

Postby Trapper John » Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:58 pm

I watched, 'In the heart of the Sea' last night - a story based on the making of a story - Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

Synopsis: It supposes that Melville, a moderately successful writer, is looking for a story on which to base a book which will elevate him to the top echelons of American novel writers.

He hears of a man who is said to be the last survivor of a whaling ship tragedy which cost the lives of many of it's crew, the details of which were rumoured to have been covered up in the resultant inquiry by the powerful Nantucket whale oil merchant families. The ship - the Essex - was said to have run aground but this last survivor knows the truth, it was destroyed by a huge, oddly coloured sperm whale bestowed with an uncanny intelligence.

At first the man refuses to speak to him, not wanting to reveal the awful facts of that voyage but by way of 'confession' he gradually reveals the tale. At the end, Melville finally has his story - the Essex becomes the Pequod and the crew become the protagonists Ahab and Ishmael and Melville agrees to hide the most 'unsavoury' facts which have tortured the mans mind for decades.

Verdict: I liked it and it is sufficiently different from the story of Moby Dick to 'stand alone' and make you believe this is how Melville would have come about the basis for his classic tale.

Stars the guy who plays Thor in the Avengers movies and a few lesser names but recognizable faces - worth a watch.
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