Pull off the 'Miracle'

“Big Miracle” depicts the international effort to save three gray whales in Alaska during 1988.

When small-town reporter Adam Carlson (Krasinski) breaks the story of three gray whales trapped under ice miles from safety, he could not possibly anticipate the scale to which it will spread.

His broadcast is picked up by national media outlets, and before long, a full-scale, international media frenzy takes over quiet Point Barrow, Alaska.

The film does not oversell the emotional plight of the animals, but rather, it focuses on simply telling the story.

True to life, many players are involved, all with different invested interests. However, by some small (or rather, “Big”) miracle, the media works with local Eskimos, big oil executives, Greenpeace activists, the National Guard, then-President Ronald Reagan and the Soviets to save the whales.

That kind of layering can cause a movie to easily implode, yet “Big Miracle” pulls it off.
It was a good news story in 1988, and it’s a good story now. This film is based on a situation so compelling that the movie makes itself.