A-Hunting We Will Go
“Moby-Dick; or, The Whale” by Herman Melville is an 1851 novel that takes us onto the Pequod whaling boat where we learn about sailing hardships, types of whales, philosophical reflections, madness, and group manipulation. While Gregory Peck became the archetypical Captain Ahab in a 1956 movie version, there have been at least twelve movies and mini-series based on the original story about a white whale that bit off Ahab’s leg. In each version, Ahab is fixated on tracking down to destroy his nemesis, a study in narcissism and anger.
In a circa 2011 version currently available on Amazon / Prime, Charlie Cox portrays Ishmael – the narrator; Ethan Hawk is Starbuck – the first mate who attempts to exercise control over Ahab’s mania; Donald Sutherland is Father Mapple - a fire and brimstone minister; Raul Trujillo is Queequeg - the fiercely loyal, tattooed, South Pacific harpooner; and William Hurt is featured as Ahab - the Pequod captain who drives his crew and himself to destruction by attempting to destroy Moby Dick.
Watching this flick was kind of like reading the Classic comic book version of a great novel. Just the plot – thank you – and skip the boring exposition stuff. In this rendering, the best parts are scenes of the sailing vessel traversing rough seas in all its glory. The worst parts are everything else, including attempts to show daily drudgery, days of heated becalming, and daring whale hunting scenes. Probably the worst is the difference between emotionally charged descriptions of the great white whale’s size, strength, and ruthless nature and the actual depiction of Moby Dick. This one-dimensional character looked like an animatronic creature that had a kind of fierce look inflicted by an overdose of Botox.
Was there anything about the show that made it worthwhile?
I enjoyed how Ahab was shown to exercise control over his crew through psychological manipulation to turn them from ordinary sailors’ intent on significant earnings from hunting sperm whales for their oil into a mob crazed into following their captain into a hellish voyage – and literally into the jaws of the great white whale.