Fiction films featuring cetaceans

Whales on screen

Free Willy (1993) changed the fate of a captive killer whale; Star Trek IV combined sperm whales and time travel; Big Miracle recounted a real rescue: cetaceans are recurring heroes of cinema fiction. Here are 15 notable films.

From Moby Dick to Star Trek IV: cetaceans in the cinema

Cetaceans in the cinema long embodied absolute otherness, from the Moby Dick of John Huston (1956) after Melville to the vengeful killer whales of Orca (1977). The cultural turning point comes with “Free Willy” (1993): the killer whale Keiko, the film’s real star, became the only captive killer whale partially rehabilitated at sea.

Other works mark the ecological imagination: “The Big Blue” by Luc Besson (1988) on the bond between humans and dolphins, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986), in which humpback whales save humanity, “Whale Rider” by Niki Caro (2002), blending Māori cosmology and a whale. More recently, “Big Miracle” (2012) revisits the widely reported rescue of the grey whales trapped in the sea ice in 1988.

Also worth discovering

Cetaceans on screen take various forms: documentaries, music, human culture and famous cetaceans (Keiko of Free Willy).