The year is 1850. Herman Melville goes to the library to meet Thomas Nickerson, the last survivor of the sunk whaleship, Essex.

Melville offers Nickerson money for the story, but he refuses it. However, Mrs. Nickerson, his wife, demands that he takes it.

The film then switches back 30 years ago to 1820. A bunch of men are leaving the land to go whaling. Nickerson is just 14 years old, and is joining as the cabin boy.

An experienced whaler called Owen Chase is assigned the role as the first mate. And George Pollard is the captain.

The journey is going okay so far. At some point, though, a storm occurs, and the ship clashes. Later the crew successfully hunts their first sperm whale.

The next scene switches to 3 months later. Unfortunately, no one has succeeded in finding any more whales. So, everyone goes to the Pacific, hoping to discover more whales.

The men stop in Ecuador, where a local tells them about an area where they might spot more whales. However, the native’s ship got destroyed by a great white whale.

Nevertheless, the crew goes to that section. Although they find a whale, it destroys the entire ship. All the guys become stranded at sea on little boats. And many die, too.

This film kept my attention all the way through, despite how it was confusing at times. One of the reasons was because there were a lot of characters. I struggled to keep track of them.

But I guess I can understand why there were so many. It is because this movie was based on a true story about the sinking of the American whaling ship, Essex, in 1820. Part of this event inspired Herman Melville to write the classic we all know today, Moby Dick.

I do imagine that, at least, some details were fictionalized. And some moments were also disgusting. For example, I found it gross when this boy, John, had to go inside the dead whale because the men could not fit in there. I covered that scene with my hands over my computer screen.

On the bright side, this movie had enough conflict to keep me engaged. I hardly got bored, especially later in the story.

Unfortunately, the plot was a bit hard to understand. However, these were flashbacks of Thomas Nickerson. Occasionally, the scenes switched back to the present time in the tale, which was 1850.

One part that shocked me was that Thomas Nickerson was only 14 when the Essex took off. That made him 34 when Herman Melville met him. He looked really old for his age – like, at least, 50, particularly because he had white facial hair. Maybe it was from stress. He was played by Brendan Gleeson, who was in his late 50s when the film was shot in 2013.

All in all, In the Heart of the Sea turned out to be decent. It might be helpful to read Moby Dick before watching this movie.

Another important factor to know is that it’s rated PG-13. There isn’t a lot of foul language (some D-word uses, but no F-word uses). But there are intense scenes, some violence, and gross moments. It’s probably not the best for young children.

Anyway, I give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars.