Educational Media Reviews Online

For anyone who has ever fallen in love with an orca (for instance, Keiko of Free Willy fame), add Luna to the list of lovable killer whales. When he was only two, Luna (or L98, to the scientists who studied his pod) was separated from his family and spent five years in Nootka Sound near Vancouver Island.

The directors, Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit, first wrote about Luna in an article for Smithsonian magazine, but returned to the sound regularly to film him. From this footage, they made the film, The Whale.

Luna first gained the attention of crew aboard the Uchuk III—a barge that travels the Sound daily to supply the logging camps. He cavorted and sang to get attention. It appeared that he wanted to greet people, introduce himself, and play.

He wasn’t much of match for a barge, but when he followed it up to the camps, Luna started doing tricks with little pieces of wood, then tried to push the logs around like the logging boats. No matter where he went, Luna tried to make friends. His family and social circle were gone, so he had to create his own pod. He approached boats, expecting (and receiving) caresses and fin-rubs and general happiness from boaters.

The film talks about the efforts made by the government to keep people away from Luna, even as they plotted to relocate the orca to the open ocean (or was it an aquarium? It depends whom you ask). It also features the Mowachaht/Muchalant First Nation people’s equally stubborn efforts to protect Luna, whom they believed to be a reincarnation of their recently departed chief.

Each summer, the government stepped up its efforts to keep people away, including taking one woman to court with a fine of $100,000. She ultimately paid $100 and claimed the experience with Luna was worth every cent.

The Whale is about how little we know about the animals whom we displace and even the experts couldn’t agree whether it was right to keep Luna away from humans when he so clearly wanted to be with them.

After watching the film, the sharp-toothed open mouth of an orca looks less like Jaws and more like a smile to me.