Review by Candice Lee Catullo
You know how fishing stories tend to get bigger as they are
re-told? Like how each time your grandpa tells that story, his arms stretch
further and further out as the mythic fish grows in his memory. IN THE HEART OF
THE SEA is another fishing story, just one of many stories inspired by one whale that swam the Pacific
Ocean in 1820.
The true story of the Massachusetts whaling ship - named the
Essex - that was sunk by a sperm whale first inspired Herman Melville to write
the fictional adaptation “Moby Dick” in 1851. Later, in 2000, author Nathaniel
Philbrick told the true story of the Essex in his non-fiction work “In the
Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.” This year, Director Ron
Howard is telling the story with a big screen adaptation of Philbrick’s story,
IN THE HEART OF THE SEA.
