"The Finest Hours"

My family and I went to see the movie The Finest Hours this week-end. It's based on a book of the same name about an actual event back in 1952. It's the story of a small Coast Guard boat going out into a storm to save the crew of an oil tanker that had broken in two during that storm. From what I understand, the movie did a pretty good job of keeping things true to the book. This article, from The Navy Times, found only a few things that were changed for the movie. And the book's authors went to great extremes to get the real story. They weren't satisfied with just interviewing the survivors who were still alive. While they did interview those people, they also scoured the newspapers from all over the country for interviews with local men made soon after the events in this story.

I've always been fascinated by stories of heroism and real stories are especially interesting. It amazes me what some people are capable of doing even when the task seems impossible and their own lives are at stake. One scene of the story involves some fishermen (who knew that the task was nearly impossible) giving the leader of the rescue attempt, Bernie Webber,  a chance to save his life by suggesting that he just attempt to get out to the ocean from the harbor and then turn back saying they couldn't get over the sand bar to the sea. The fishermen say that no one would blame him because he should have never been asked to do such a thing in the conditions that existed. But Webber does not to that. He has accepted his duty and the fact that other people's lives were in danger compelled him to go.

There are many intertwined stories going on during the movie. One involves the commanding officer of the Coast Guard base, Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff, who is not a local. He is not as respected as he should be because he doesn't speak with a New England accent (I know that feeling). He makes the decision to send his men on this seemingly suicidal mission and everyone thinks he is wrong to do it. But if he hadn't done that, the men on the ship would have certainly been lost. Another interesting sub-plot was that the man, Carl Nickerson I think, who sees the stricken ship off-shore and tells the Coast Guard commander about it blames Bernie Webber for not doing enough to save Nickerson's brother in an earlier storm. It's because of Nickerson's seeing the ship that someone has to be sent out for the rescue.Although Nickerson didn't know that Bernie Webber would be the one chosen to lead the rescue, you can see that he would be blamed for getting revenge if Webber didn't come back.

I highly recommend this movie. I know some critics fault it for seeming to clean up a gritty story and I'm sure there would have been a lot more swearing in the real event. But that doesn't diminish the fact that people actually did these amazing things and the Coast Guard continues to put their lives on the line for other people. This just gives us a taste of it and an appreciation for their sacrifice. If the critics what a "truer" story, let them jump in the boat in the storm and save some people themselves.