Stuff of heroes

In a cinematic era when big-screen stars swagger in pectoral-parading costumes or zip across galaxies, natural-disaster movies remind us that man, with all his technological prowess and gadgets, is still little more than dust in a fallen world. Disney’s new natural-disaster film depicts the frightening and destructive power of the sea, yet highlights the powerful attributes that distinguish humans from the rest of creation: fear, courage, humility, and leadership.

The Finest Hours, rated PG-13 for some suspenseful scenes, closely follows the true story of the most awesome and foolhardy small-boat rescue in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. The momentous hours take place on the night of a chilly, stormy Feb. 18, 1952, when a vicious nor’easter off the New England coast rips two World War II–era oil tankers in half. The film focuses on the rescue mission to one of those ships, the SS Pendleton, which loses its captain and seven crewmen when its broken-off bow sinks into treacherous waters. The remaining 33 crew members on the Pendleton’s stern tremble at the face of death, with seemingly no hope of rescue or flight.

Enter our hero, Coast Guard boatswain’s mate Bernie Webber (Chris Pine), who fell into his mission because he was the only one available that night: All the A-list team members had already gone to rescue the first tanker that snapped. Webber and three other volunteers—bored engineman Andrew Fitzgerald (Kyle Gallner), crusty Seaman Richard Livesey (Ben Foster), and inexperienced tag-along sailor Ervin Maske (John Magaro)—hop into a 36-foot wooden lifeboat and chug toward the heart of the storm. Before long, the 60-foot waves and shrieking winds chop and whip their little boat so much they lose their canvas and compass. Instead of faking a decent attempt and turning back as the other seasoned seamen advised Webber before he set sail, Webber makes his most heroic decision of those harrowing hours: He decides not to give up.

The movie’s Webber character probably would have had a different personality had it not been based on a real person. The Webber in this film seems anything but herolike with his soft, insecure demeanor and simple-minded submission to rules and authority. The guy bumbles with his head down, mumbles as if what he has to say doesn’t matter, and is so unassertive his girlfriend Miriam (Holliday Grainger) has to ask him to marry her first—which his teammates soon find out and mock mercilessly. Indeed, Webber is hardly a leader who inspires admiration from his team.

But that’s what makes the characters of The Finest Hours so believable: They actually shine in their utter lack of self-grandeur and charisma. All the leaders in this film step up to their roles reluctantly: Webber reluctantly says yes when his boss gives him difficult orders; Pendleton’s first assistant engineer Raymond Sybert (Casey Affleck) is a taciturn man whose eloquent, impassioned crewmen quickly challenge his authority; and even Webber’s superior officer Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) is an awkward outsider who stammers when his men outright disrespect him, pegging him as a Southerner with no real understanding of northern seas. But when hit with a crisis, each of them displays fine leadership—not with grand speeches or Clint Eastwood–style bravado, but with a quiet, simple determination to finish the task in front of them. It’s unlike the style of leadership typically celebrated in modern times, but that’s the old-fashioned charm of this movie.

Bring a sweater to the theater. All the scenes of howling hail and crashing waves plunge the visceral senses into ice, awakening some perception of the doom the real-life characters must have felt—but ultimately celebrating a team’s amazing sacrifice that remained too long as forgotten pages of history.