The Finest Hours

I’m not very well verse in the history of the US Coast Guard but I do have a newfound respect for those who challenge their bodies and minds to battle the waters they do.  The respect for that profession was gained by seeing the film The Finest Hours.  The Finest Hours details the story of an oil tanker that is destroyed in 1952 during a blizzard and the brave men who battle the elements to rescue the crew of that tankard.

Bernie (Chris Pine) is an average guy who chose to dedicate his life to serving the US Coast Guard in 1951.  By the following year Bernie is haunted by the fact that when he was out on a rescue mission saving men from an oil tanker he could not save someone one of his fellow service men knew.  He is haunted by this but still bound entirely to his duty and dedicated to his mission of saving as many lives as he can.  The SS Pendleton is damaged by the rough seas and high winds and is sinking quickly due to the extreme conditions of the storm.  Bernie has fallen in love with a woman named Miriam Pentinen (played with class by Holliday Grainger) who he plans to marry.  The main thing preventing him from proposing is the fact that he has to ask his superior for permission to marry as a formality within the Coast Guard at the time.  Before Bernie can ask his superior about marrying Miriam, Bernie is sent out to rescue the crew of the SS Pendleton and how he succeeds or fails determines whether he gets to save the lives of those who need his help and if he will live to marry the woman he loves.

The Finest Hours is not a hard film to digest.  The plot itself while simple enough to understand is cluttered with a lot of vocabulary that only a person who is employed in the US Coast Guard would comprehend.  Despite this fact, Bernie’s mission is a compelling one and Pine continues to demonstrate why Hollywood calls on him to play leading roles.  He is excellent as Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Weber.  I was also particularly impressed with Ben Foster’s performance as Seaman Richard Livesey.  Livesey has some animosity toward Weber from a previous accidental failure to save someone but Livesey proves a strong ally when Weber most needs the support.

One of the things I appreciated most about The Finest Hours was its ability to shift the story between what Bernie was experiencing at sea and what was going on in the SS Pendleton.  Casey Affleck plays a crucial role in the film as Ray Sybert, the only man on the Pendleton willing to do everything possible to keep the boat from sinking.  I loved the character of Sybert more than I admired Bernie and that admiration came from the fact that Sybert appeared to be not respected by virtually the entire crew.  The only time the crew really started supporting Sybert is after he had already saved their lives twice in the first hour of the film.  This made me respect Sybert and root for his rescue.

Usually the main detractor of a movie about being at sea would be that visually, in terms of lighting, the film is too dark.  For me, this was an expected environmental factor of what being at sea would be like and I wasn’t as bothered by it as some audiences may be.  The main negative of this film for me is that the love story between Bernie and Miriam is poorly written and poorly framed.  I would have very much enjoyed an inner monologue of Bernie’s thoughts as we were given flashes of what their relationship was like but that small section of scenes was never provided.

Overall The Finest Hours is a well-made film from the house of mouse that tributes the efforts of the US Coast Guard and one of its greatest members.  While this film will not convince me to go out on the water anytime soon it did provide me with a much deeper respect for the actions of the men and women who faithfully serve our country in this way doing a very dangerous occupation.