Orca- Killer Whale (1977)

 

Whilst Orca may have been inspired by the success of Jaws and superficially appears similar (plus Orca was the name of that film’s iconic boat) it is something of a different beast. While the shark in Jaws was simply the creature from the wild that attacked people for no other reason than because that’s what sharks do, the killer whale in this movie is given a motivation. The viewer is encouraged to understand why it is acting as it does and rather than random attacks it's targets are shown to be considered to achieve a certain end. Whether a real killer whale has such cognisance is another thing but what the films writers want us to believe is that this is a personal battle.

 

Captain Nolan, originally from Ireland, is a fisherman working off the coast of Newfoundland who is trying to earn enough money to return home after a personal tragedy we learn of later. When one of his crew is imperilled by a great white shark, a large killer whale rescues him unitingly setting itself up as the new target catch. When it is caught and then the crew discover, courtesy of the film’s grisliest scene, the whale was female and pregnant it kickstarts a personal vendetta from her partner.

Courtesy of inserts from a lecture by cetologist Rachel Bedford we learn that killer whales are monogamous and also possess fearsome intelligence. Her lecture too obviously foreshadows what is to come and it would have been better to have left a lot of it out so events unfold. Anyway when this whale begins to target Nolan’s boat and then the town where Nolan takes the vessel for repair we should not be surprised. These attacks are designed to bring Nolan back out to sea to face the whale.

Killer whales are not actually monogamous so that bit is dramatic licence and its doubtful if such a creature would really be capable of going to such lengths as this one does. Nonetheless it makes for an effective thriller as the big fish first sinks other boats belonging to local fisherman stoking up tension between them and Nolan and then sets off a chain of events that causes the local refinery to be destroyed. Basically, it is the most resourceful fish in movie history and I would not have been surprised if it had actually spoken near the end! Its story resembles that of a vigilante taking revenge. Its interesting though who should root for because the way events are presented it is Nolan who is in the wrong and as matters develop he seem to become aware of that.

The plot also reveals that Nolan’s own wife and child died in a car accident meaning he begins to understand what he has done to the Orca’s family. This aspect drives him on but confuses the plot. One minute he wants to kill it, the next let it kill him. More promising if underdeveloped are the villager’s responses to Nolan’s stay- they refer to the Orca as `his whale` and want him gone to avoid any more damage. There is something of Moby Dick in the resolution to this as man and sea creature finally face each other with the viewer perhaps unsure who to support.

None of this would work as well as it does where it not for the hand of director Michael Anderson and cinematographer Ted Moore at the tiller. They take what is a far-fetched tale and mould it into a tense cat and mouse game. Shooting the local seascape with the eye of a painter- especially sunsets and sunrises- they draw us into this wild world creating the perfect backdrop. Sharp editing from a three-person team (John Bloom, Marion Rothman, and Ralph E Winters) skilfully mixes footage of real killer whales with artificial ones meaning there is only one moment in the whole film where the Orca looks false. Otherwise, it is sleek, dangerous, and just as effective as that better known shark. Incidentally we do get sequence with a great white shark early on as a bonus. To emphasise the personal nature of the pursuit we see both the whale and Nolan through each other’s eyes, locked in combat.

The Orca is treated as a character from the start; the film opens with sequences of the two whales frolicking in picturesque bliss or swimming around underwater. We hear the whale’s sounds of joy and then later its cries of sorrow. Together with a score by the esteemed Ennio Morricone that replaces Jaws’ staccato urgency with something more elegiac the atmosphere of a very personal, quite sad, film is created. When it attacks it is accompanied by surging strings mirroring its stealthy movement through the water. The Orca may not have dialogue but courtesy of Rachel’s lecture we learn more about them than we do about most of the film’s characters.

Richard Harris plays Nolan with a rough Irish roguishness supporting the film’s idea that he essentially lives at sea just like the Orca does. Nonetheless he does good work conveying the character’s evolution from confident hunter to regretful and then resigned chaser as he pursues the whale where it wants him to go. He knows he will not be coming back. Rachel is played by Charlotte Rampling and for some reason has an occasional narration that isn’t really necessary. It’s hard to see what Rahcel wants as her responses to developments are contradictory.

No other characters get much attention and seem to be mostly there as whale food. The attacks themselves are striking, especially when its whale versus boat and when the creature takes the fight to the harbour for its daring attack on the place’s infrastructure. The finale seems far-fetched even by this film’s standard taking Nolan and the whale to polar regions for their final confrontation.

The film was not a massive success perhaps partly because people expected Jaws part two and not helped by a promotional poster suggesting just that. Orca seems more relevant to today’s sensibilities than it probably did to those watching in 1977. Jaws is a classic no doubt but it is essentially a monster flick with something terrible terrorising people whereas Orca has a more thoughtful consideration as to why the creature might attack. It gives the whale a say in its own story. It may not be perfect yet it tries to be more than just another monster movie.