THE PERFECT STORM
US, 1999, 129 minutes, Colour.
George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, John C.Reilly, William Fichtner, Christopher Mc Donald.
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen.
The Perfect Storm describes exactly what the film is about. The setting is 1991, and the area of the Atlantic outside Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Andrea Gail headed for the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic and got caught up in one of the strongest storms that had occurred in the South Atlantic. The film, very strong on special effects, gets the audience in the middle of the storm, trying to cope with the crew of the Andrea Gail, trying to anticipate what would happen – and the struggle for survival and limping back into port.
George Clooney had a good role as the captain with Mark Wahlberg as his assistant and Diane Lane as the woman waiting for the crew to come back. There is a strong supporting cast of character actors.
While the film is very strong on special effects, it is strong on drama – and is the work of German director Wolfgang Petersen who made the Oscar-winning The Boat in 1981 and then came to Hollywood making a whole range of films including Enemy Mine, In the Line of Fire and such spectacles as Troy and Poseidon.
1.The quality of this disaster movie? The tradition of cinema disaster movies? The fact that it was based on a true story? Actual characters - and filmed in the places where the tragedies happened?
2.The popular elements of the sketching in of characters, interactions and tensions, the life in Gloucester, the dependence on fishing, the fishing community? The success of building up characters and situating them within the crises of the storm?
3.The title, the book and the bestseller? The situation of the three weather fronts and their combining into the perfect storm? The repercussions for weather, for the Coast Guard, for sailing craft, for rescue?
4.The film and its sense of realism: the Massachusetts locations, the Gloucester settings? The bay, the sea? The blending of the storm special effects with the realism?
5.Audience response to the true story of the perfect storm, to the individual characters at the popular level, their motivations, relationships, tensions, competence, ordinariness and heroics?
6.The Massachusetts fishing tradition, the literary antecedents with Herman Melville and the atmosphere of Moby Dick? The town of Gloucester, the museum, the memorials with the names - and the finale with the names of those who died in the perfect storm? The detail of the world of Gloucester?
7.Billy and his work, his role as leader, his relationship with the crew, the clash with the boss, the lack of fish, the tension? With his crew, going to the bar, the raucous letting off of steam? The relationship with the women in the town? Families? The decision to go again and try to succeed with the fish? His influence on the fellow members of the crew?
8.The weather situation, the meteorologists and their forecasts? The sailors and their skills? The importance of the other captain and her ship, her skills, the relationship with Billy? The warnings, her later concern, faxing information about the storm? The audience responding through her character to the sailors in the storm?
9.The mechanic, his work, an angry man, fighting Murphy, the contrast with Murphy and his relationship with his estranged wife, the kids? The hotel and letting off steam? Pierre and his being a ladies' man? The awkward man and his name, nickname? Meeting Irene, talking to her, her coming to the wharf?
10.Bobby, his relationship with his mother? With his girlfriend, their relationship, wanting to marry her? His relationship with Billy and the contrast with Billy with no wife?
11.The fishing and the exercise of their skills, the lack of fish? The detail of the fishing scenes?
12.The pleasure craft, the people on board, their wealth, the captain and his determination, the response of the two women? The storm, the decisions, the helicopter, the rescue, their being on the Coast Guard ship?
13.The focus on the helicopters and their crew, the skills, the crashes, lack of fuel, trying to refuel in mid-air, the ditching of the helicopters, the rescue, the deaths, the Coast Guard? The picture of the Coast Guard and their skills and the demands made on them during storms?
15.The television studios, the meteorologist, his personality, communicating the information, his response to the storm, the maps and the detailed explanation of the weather movements?
16.The crew struggling hard against the storm, their riding with it, the final decision to go against it, the motivation, the fish, the money? Murphy going overboard, the rescue after the clashes? The bonding between the men? The physical demands? Billy and his speeches, the love for fishing, the meaning of his life? The decision, the huge wave and their drowning?
17.The people back at the pub, listening to the radio, Bobby's girlfriend and her attack on the boss? The grief and sadness of the relatives, the friends?
18.The memorial service, the speech, the listing of the men amongst those who have died in Gloucester?
19.The American perspective, the heroism, the death? The downbeat tone of the ending - but its realism?
