Films About the Sea
This piece was featured in issue 1 of the Elements Journal. Cover illustration by Joel Ebsworth.
Jaws
If you haven’t heard of Peter Benchley’s serial killing great white shark tale, you’re probably the happiest person in the ocean right now. This 1975 classic is woven around the ‘perfect killing machine’, which terrorises the quaint beach resort town of Amity. Chief of Police Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) does his salty best to defend tourists, and his family, from the bloodthirsty creature. What he doesn’t count on is money hungry Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), who refuses to close the popular beach, regardless of the body count. Other standouts are Robert Shaw, AKA Quint, the shanty singing shark hunter and Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) who holds her own at a time when female characters were mostly an afterthought. Steven Spielberg’s epic direction and John Williams’ iconic score will make you never want to swim in the ocean again. Thanks guys.
Point break
We’re talking the 1991 action crime thriller starring nineties heart throbs Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, so please don’t mention the 2015 remake. While the surf scenes make even average surfers laugh out loud, it’s the story that grabs you by the balls, and or, ovaries. After all, who wouldn’t want to rob banks with your cool surf crew to fund an endless summer? If Kathryn Bigelow’s ridiculously underrated direction isn’t a draw card, watch it purely for Gary Busey’s shambolic turn as FBI agent Johnny Utah’s sidekick, Angelo Pappas. Then there’s surf master, gang leader and all round cool guy Bodhi, who loves jumping out of planes, talking about spirituality and creating situations likely to cause him 11 lifetimes of bad karma. Yes, Keanu’s acting is cardboard as ever, but this cult classic is still a stayer.
Waterworld
Whatever your thoughts on Kevin Costner, the guy went all out on this post apocalyptic banger set in a mostly submerged world. Even mid-nineties Hollywood knew about the polar ice caps melting, and Kevin liked the story so much he ‘sunk’ a bunch of money into it. We’re secretly glad, because Waterworld is true B-grade gold. For one thing, Dennis Hopper makes for a seriously badass nemesis, whether he’s trying to blow up a bus full of tourists (and Sandra Bullock) or doing his best to murder innocent people adrift in a world full of water. And let’s not forget Jeanne Tripplehorn, that actress who was really big in the eighties and somehow snuck her way into this nineties ‘classic’. If you ever dreamt of a Mad Max and The Postman mash up, you’ll froth on Waterworld.
The light between oceans
Ever felt like ditching humanity? Well, this is exactly what retired war hero Tom Sherbourne does in in the 2012 film adaptation of M.L Stedman’s romantic period drama. Sherbourne (played with perfect stoicism by Michael Fassbender) seeks solace as a lighthouse keeper on an island off Albany, Western Australia. The ocean is as much a character as Sherbourne, with its wild expansiveness and ability to take and give life. As Sherbourne says, “When it comes to the ocean, anything is possible.” Then there’s his new wife, Isabel Graysmark (Alicia Vikander), who brings light and love to the lonely keeper. But when a rowboat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying baby girl, their lives change forever. Fassbender fan or not, this epically shot tale of redemption is worth 132 minutes of your life.
Free Willy
Okay, we said there’d be no spoilers, but there’s not much we can do when the title is one. Oh, and if you expect a family adventure to end with the friendly orca in captivity, you’re a pretty twisted S.O.B. Mostly starring an animatronic stand-in and a killer whale called Keiko, the story follows 12 year old juvenile delinquent Jesse (Jason James Richter), who does his darndest to set him, well, free. In a heavy case of art imitating life, the box office smash sparked a campaign to release Keiko from captivity. It was somewhat of a success; with the US Air Force transporting the orca to Iceland, and later Norway in a bid to help him learn how to hang with other orcas and eventually go free. Unfortunately he died of pneumonia in 2003. We like to think he’s swimming with his mates in the big blue sky now.
Finding Nemo
Pretty much everyone who watched this film felt an uncontrollable desire to buy a clown fish or make friends with a turtle. Pixar once again raised the digital animation bar. Okay, they downright drank everyone under the table. Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) and his annoyingly optimistic mate Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) are forced together on a journey to find Marlin’s lost son Nemo, who is floating around a tank in a dentist’s office. Luckily, his pa doesn’t take no for an answer, even when big scary sharks and hungry whales get in the way. Director and screenwriter Andrew Stanton told National Geographic that inspiration for the film came from going to the dentist as a child and wondering if the fish in the aquarium were trying to get back home to the sea.