The Whale; documentary, 2012

Imagine being – oh, maybe three to five years old – and abandoned. Fortunately, even though your family neglected to keep their eyes on you, you find yourself in a comfortable house, where there is always food and snacks lying around. But there is nobody around with whom to talk. You are young, eager to establish those social connections that enrich the lives of smart, hip young mammals everywhere. Your pod abandons you, so you make the most of it – calling the names of your relatives through the night, but in the day, playing with the apex predator that lives on the other side of seawater surface, living in the atmosphere.

That’s what may well have happened to Orca L98, later named Luna by a Seattle newspaper contest in 2000, before his sex was known. Possibly abandoned as early as late 2000, when up to 5 members of his pod died, Luna was also declared dead until his reappearance in July of 2001 in Nootka Sound, on Vancouver Island’s Northwest coast, where the whale took up residence. In spite of attempts to keep this apparently orphaned killer whale a secret, by the end of 2001 the story of Luna began to circulate.

The Whale, a documentary, chronicles Luna’s life; from his appearance as a lone animal that normally thrives in a highly social environment, to his reputation as a smart and friendly maritime friend who seemed to learn as much from us as we tried to learn from him. The story, as well as countless video of this lonely animal turning to humans for comfort, is something that should not be missed.

Ryan Reynolds narrates The Whale and, alongside Scarlett Johansson and Eric Destnik, is listed as executive producer. In short, it is an amazing documentary that might leave you questioning which species is truly smarter, more social, and potentially capable of forgiveness and love than ever expected.

The story follows Luna’s unusual history, with heaps of truly astounding footage gathered over years as the unique whale desperately seeks human companionship. At the same time, “experts” keep trying to prevent such interactions with crazy fines and stewardship. Something of a tourist attraction, a local legend, and revered by the local Native American tribes as a reincarnation of a former chief, Luna becomes an odd lynchpin for a number of efforts.

The state and Federal government want to move him and reunite him with his old pod. The local Native Americans want the spirit of their leader to stay where it seemed to want – in the local Nootka Sound area. It thrived in the sounds’ food-rich waters, so natural stresses never forced the orphan to leave the relative safety of his home. This battle – or difference of opinion, depending upon which side you take – becomes an important stand in the conversation about wildlife management. As in: how do you manage something that is wild, no matter how civilized, friendly and playful?

The film does an excellent job of exploring the difficulties in trying to keep to sentient, curious, friendly, 4 to 5 ton animal from playing and making friends where and when it wants. It’s nearly impossible to keep a straight face as one wildlife official, holding the two boats together by hand, explains that contact with Luna could result in a $100,000 fine; all the while Luna himself bobs up and down between the boats, playing with the ranger’s arm. It brings the ridiculousness, and difficulty of the situation, into some kind of focus. An animal like Luna should be in deep water, where they can fight with larger pray and play with their brothers, sisters, cousins; and here are humans, a poor substitute for play pals, but the only thing that approaches the magnificent animal’s intelligence for dozens of miles around.

All three angles are well covered in The Whale. One thing plainly obvious is that each group really cares about the health and well-being of Luna, even if they had different ideas on how help.

But it’s the footage collected over years that drive the most important point home – Luna was a lonely whale, craving the attention of the only creatures smart enough to see it. His playfulness and curiosity best compared to a kitten, swimming amongst the boats and docks of the Nootka Sound, bringing a sense of happiness and wonder to everybody whom he touched. But even beyond that, he seemed to take the whale equivalence joy with his interactions, sometimes mimicking human actions, like hosing down the side of a boat, holding the nozzle in his mouth. These were not trained behaviors, but learned through his observation. It was an animal that wanted to understand us, probably more than we wanted to understand him.

The different organizations and townspeople were concerned for his safety almost as one – the boat traffic in the sound was heavy. In many shots, Luna comes right up to boats’ propellers to play in the cavitation bubbles – a dangerous habit that caused lines of propeller scars to cover his young body. And then, one day it happened. Luna came too close to a familiar tugboat, the powerful engines were too much for the playful whale, and he was sucked into the propellers.

The Whale is a beautiful story in so many ways that it really deserves to be seen everybody, regardless of age. It’s one thing to talk about these majestic animals in captivity, but it’s another thing watching one lonely orphan befriending an entire community. It’s difficult to not project human-like qualities onto Luna when the whale, himself, tries so hard to communicate and befriend us. It’s the kind of tragic loss that is amplified by how much we could we could have learned, if we only gave him the chance.

Rating: 8 of 10 hugged trees

Pain level: 2-3

Medication: 10 mg cyclobenzeprene, 10 mg oxycodone

TO WATCH THE WHALE ON NETFLIX, CLICK HERE