I watched this one in the early AM approximately two days ago, and I have to say it was a fairly interesting cinema experience. It's by no means the best Scott film I've seen (in fact, I think it was the only Scott film I'd not yet viewed), but it does a few things spectacularly well. The photography is beautiful, but that's hardly surprising for a Ridley Scott film. What I found more interesting was that that the film (for me at least) managed to totally capture the joy and team work of sailing. I did quite a bit of sailing growing up, not only at my YWCA camp, but also at local sailing clubs. There is a feeling that one gets from being on the water, harnessing the force of the winds to go where you want to go, that's impossible to put into words. It's just fantastic. I felt like Scott captured some of that with his movie
By following these characters as they learn to sail, the film manages to help capture the magic that comes from working as a team out on the water. We see them develop as people, and as sailors. The audience learns to appreciate the exhilaration of sailing as the characters do, and I think this is where the film really succeeds. Where it also succeeds, IMHO, is in capturing the simple joys of being young and developing friendships. I think a big part of the what I enjoyed about my YWCA camp came about from the way my social universe drastically shrunk while I was there. The fact that the camp was not co-ed meant that there were none of the social quagmires that usually arose with boys around (there were a few men on the staff, sort of like how Jeff Bridges' wife was on the boat in the movie), and life became about getting to know your cabin-mates and making friends. I feel like this movie helps portray that kind of atmosphere, even if it's doing it from the opposite side of the equation. In fact, WS really made me wish I could go back to my senior year of highschool and find some vagabond sailing academy of my own. It's kind of depressing that I've outgrown the time in my life where such experiences are possible
Anyway
Despite the loss of life and terror at sea that comes in the films last minutes, I think this is a wonderful "journey" film. Their Odyssey across the ocean and their journey to adulthood are both wonderfully realized, and the fine performances of Bridges and company help anchor the film (no pun intended). Also worth noting is the eerie way that actor Scott Wolf seemed to mimic a young Tom Cruise, both in his appearance and acting.
While I was a bit disappointed to see the film conclude in a rather hum drum and mundane court room scene, where characters that had up to that moment been fully developed human beings suddenly began hackneyed speechifying for the cameras. At least Bridges managed to hold his own even as the movie veered perilously towards cliche.
Oh well, like one character in the film says of Homer "It's about the journey, not the destination"
PS The titular White Squall is a spectacular sequence, and rather frightening*. It's one of the better 'ship caught in a storm' sequences I've seen in any film. Even still, I couldn't help but think that "White Squall" sounds incredibly refreshing. It calls to mind being on the ocean on a sunny bright day with a whitewater mist being blown by hurricane force winds across your face. There used to be a flavor of Powerade called "GREEN SQUALL" (melon flavored) that perhaps gave birth to this bizarre association on my part.
*According to the special features, it was filmed on the world's largest outdoor water tank
By following these characters as they learn to sail, the film manages to help capture the magic that comes from working as a team out on the water. We see them develop as people, and as sailors. The audience learns to appreciate the exhilaration of sailing as the characters do, and I think this is where the film really succeeds. Where it also succeeds, IMHO, is in capturing the simple joys of being young and developing friendships. I think a big part of the what I enjoyed about my YWCA camp came about from the way my social universe drastically shrunk while I was there. The fact that the camp was not co-ed meant that there were none of the social quagmires that usually arose with boys around (there were a few men on the staff, sort of like how Jeff Bridges' wife was on the boat in the movie), and life became about getting to know your cabin-mates and making friends. I feel like this movie helps portray that kind of atmosphere, even if it's doing it from the opposite side of the equation. In fact, WS really made me wish I could go back to my senior year of highschool and find some vagabond sailing academy of my own. It's kind of depressing that I've outgrown the time in my life where such experiences are possible
Anyway
Despite the loss of life and terror at sea that comes in the films last minutes, I think this is a wonderful "journey" film. Their Odyssey across the ocean and their journey to adulthood are both wonderfully realized, and the fine performances of Bridges and company help anchor the film (no pun intended). Also worth noting is the eerie way that actor Scott Wolf seemed to mimic a young Tom Cruise, both in his appearance and acting.
While I was a bit disappointed to see the film conclude in a rather hum drum and mundane court room scene, where characters that had up to that moment been fully developed human beings suddenly began hackneyed speechifying for the cameras. At least Bridges managed to hold his own even as the movie veered perilously towards cliche.
Oh well, like one character in the film says of Homer "It's about the journey, not the destination"
PS The titular White Squall is a spectacular sequence, and rather frightening*. It's one of the better 'ship caught in a storm' sequences I've seen in any film. Even still, I couldn't help but think that "White Squall" sounds incredibly refreshing. It calls to mind being on the ocean on a sunny bright day with a whitewater mist being blown by hurricane force winds across your face. There used to be a flavor of Powerade called "GREEN SQUALL" (melon flavored) that perhaps gave birth to this bizarre association on my part.
*According to the special features, it was filmed on the world's largest outdoor water tank
