Tom Nickerson was haunted his whole life by his horrific memory of a whale attack as a 14 year-old boy. In the nineteenth century whaling was a very lucrative business. Hundreds of men in Nantucket, Mass would sign up for a whaling ship to gather the pure whale oil. However, in 1820 the New England whaling ship, the Essex, was attacked by an enormous whale. The surviving crewmen (played by Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy) faced many obstacles as they were stranded in the middle of the ocean.  This amazing true story is told in flashback by an elderly Tom Nickerson as he tells his tale to a young Herman Melville and it became the inspiration for Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.

Rating: 3 and 1/2  out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: March 8, 2016
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

• In the Heart of the Sea is an interesting and educational film inspired by a true story, one that teens may be intrigued by. The survivors of the attack demonstrated courage and a strong will to live while enduring unbearable circumstances.
• There are many disturbing and graphic scenes. See violent content below.

Sexual Content: Mild

• We see a man carving a woman’s breasts on a whalebone.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

• Harpoons are thrown into the the whales. Blood spews from the beasts blowhole covering the water and the sailor’s faces.
• We see a whale continuously butchered and speared to death.We learn that whale oil is found in the sperm whale’s head. We see a sailor cutting a hole in the whale and a crew member crawling into the hole. This was very disturbing.
• {Spoiler Alert} The Essex’s hull is cracked by the white whale. The whale brings down the ship. Men are killed from falling overboard or crushed by the enormous whale.
• The ship’s survivors are stranded in the middle of the ocean. We see character’s starve to death, dead bodies are kept aboard as food. The crewman draw straws to see who will be shot and cannibalized.
• A character points a gun at his head and shoots himself.
• A character is shown with bloody hands as he suffers from a rope burn.
• A character vomits all over another crew members shoes.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

• We hear “d–n,” “a–,” “h—,” and “b–ch,” throughout the film.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

• We see character’s drinking wine.
• Tom and Melville drink whiskey as Tom tells Melville his long story.

Will kids/ Teens Like It? Yes

Overall In the Heart of the Sea is an interesting drama about survival. Parents need to be aware of the excessive and disturbing violence throughout the film.