SMART WHALES talk TO HUMANS to SAVE STRANDED CALF while they ESCAPE FISHERMEN
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00:00For hundreds of years, the Inupiates lived alone at the ends of the earth and maintained their
00:04tradition of whaling until they were discovered. Sometime after discovering these people,
00:08Adam Carlson was sent to the town of Barrow, Alaska, to record a story for the newspaper
00:13where he works. After finishing the job, Adam accepts a request from Nathan, a young member
00:19of the Inupia tribe, and takes his camera to document Arnold riding a snowmobile.
00:23During the recording, the journalist notices a movement in the lake a few meters away and
00:28decides to go there to investigate. With the help of some locals, Adam finds a whale calf
00:32trapped in the snow, as the ice is blocking the channel that leads to the open sea.
00:37Like all mammals, gray whales can't breathe underwater, so they need access to fresh air
00:41to avoid drowning. However, that hole will close in a few days and, if they remain trapped there,
00:47the calf and its family will end up losing their lives. In an attempt to help the animals,
00:52Adam decides to record a story about the frozen lake and the news ends up reaching Rachel Kramer,
00:56an animal activist. Immediately after seeing the report, the woman calls her ex-boyfriend and is
01:02furious that he hasn't contacted her to inform her of the whale's situation. In his defense,
01:07Adam recalls that when the couple broke up, Rachel asked him never to contact her again,
01:11since he was the one who decided to end the relationship, but even so, the woman says she
01:16will help him save those whales. The problem is that, as well as the ice getting thicker and the
01:20hole getting smaller, the Inupiates are planning to eliminate these animals. In an attempt to
01:25prevent this from happening, Rachel goes to a governor and asks for his help in sending the
01:29National Guard to the town of Barrow with a ship that can break the ice. When he hears this,
01:34Governor Haskell is outraged and says that he would never mobilize so many resources to save three
01:39whales. That afternoon, while working at Greenpeace headquarters, Rachel receives a call from Ruth
01:44McGraw, who claims to know a way to save the whales. According to her, there is a piece of equipment
01:50in California Bay that was built specifically to break ice, so Rachel will be able to use it to
01:55open the way for the whales to the open sea. All the activist has to do is ask for a National Guard
02:00helicopter to tow her to Barrow. The truth is that Ruth is the wife of J.W. McGraw, the owner of a
02:05large oil company, and she manages to convince him to lend his equipment to save the whales, so that
02:10his company will gain more popularity and public support. Now that she has borrowed a hovercraft to do
02:16the job, Rachel makes a public statement to ask for the governor's help, as she needs at least one
02:21National Guard helicopter to take the equipment to Barrow. Seeing the interview given by the woman,
02:26Governor Haskell realizes that his popularity is in jeopardy, so he decides to backtrack and make
02:31some members of the National Guard available to help the whales. After mobilizing all the necessary
02:36resources to start the process of rescuing those animals, Rachel travels to Alaska and meets her
02:41ex-boyfriend at Barrow Airport. When she sees Adam, she rushes to hug him, because even
02:46after so long away, she is still in love with him. However, at this point, the journalist is
02:51interested in a colleague who works for another American broadcaster and can't take his eyes off
02:55Jill, who has gone there to document the story of the whales. That morning, Colonel Scott is
03:00entrusted with the mission of taking the hovercraft to Barrow and explains to the journalists how the
03:04logistics will work to ensure that the 40-ton vehicle reaches Barrow as quickly as possible.
03:09Before the press takes over the whole city, Adam decides to go and talk to Malik to warn him about
03:14the possible attacks the Inupiates could suffer. As a people who live in isolation from the rest of
03:19society, they have to hunt their own food to survive and, that year, the whale hunt didn't
03:24go as well as expected. So Malik wants to eliminate the three whales that are trapped in the ice and
03:29this is causing people to revolt. The next day, some members of the Inupiate tribe appear before a
03:34press conference to explain that whale hunting is traditional for their people and that they need it
03:38for food. However, Rachel counters this statement by saying that the tribe can buy food with the
03:43money they receive from the oil companies that buy the right to drill on their land.
03:47At this point, Malik arrives on the scene and meets up with his friends to try to convince
03:51them to give up hunting those whales, because if the media filmed the Inupiates eliminating these
03:55animals, it could lead to a revolt and they would risk losing their right to hunt. So the group changes
04:00its mind about eliminating those whales and announces that it will help free them. In an attempt to buy
04:05more time for the animals, Malik takes a chainsaw and starts cutting the ice that is growing around
04:10the hole. Thanks to the repercussions of this case in the media, the town of Barrow is receiving more
04:15and more tourists interested in rescuing whales, which has been favorable for local businesses.
04:20As Adam enters one of his favorite restaurants in the city, he spots Jill and takes the opportunity
04:25to strike up a conversation with her. When she sees her ex-boyfriend talking to the journalist,
04:30Rachel feels jealous and gets upset when she realizes that Adam wants to help Jill get an exclusive
04:35scoop for her newspaper story. Before long, the lake's surroundings are full of reporters who have
04:40to film the whales, who apparently don't mind the presence of all those people. As she nears the edge
04:45of the lake, Rachel is greeted by the arrival of the calf, who approaches her. At this point, the woman
04:50realizes that he is injured, so she puts on her wetsuit and decides to go down with an oxygen cylinder
04:55to find out what's wrong with the calf. When he realizes that Rachel is willing to risk her life
05:00for those animals, Adam tries to stop her from entering the water, but his ex-girlfriend ignores him
05:05and goes to meet the gray whales. While observing these animals, Rachel realizes that the calf is
05:10unable to swim to the surface on its own and has to rely on the help of its parents to breathe due
05:15to a fishing net that is caught in its tail. Fearful of being attacked at any moment, the woman
05:19approaches cautiously and begins to cut the net to free the baby. In doing so, the animal is able to
05:25swim freely again and Rachel returns to the surface relieved, with a sense of accomplishment.
05:29That afternoon, McGraw arrives in Barrow to pay a visit to the whales in order to make headlines as
05:35a friend of the environment. Every hour, the temperature of the lake drops and people begin
05:39to mobilize to help the whales break through the ice on the surface, because if the hole closes,
05:44they won't be able to breathe. On observing the calf, affectionately nicknamed Bam Bam,
05:49Malik notices that he is acting atypically and begins to suspect that he may have pneumonia.
05:53Meanwhile, Colonel Scott and his men are in the helicopter dragging the hovercraft to Barrow.
05:58However, due to the thick layers of ice under the ocean, the journey is made even more difficult.
06:03That night, after dinner with Adam and Nathan, Rachel decides to go back out onto the ice,
06:08as she is worried about what might happen to the whales during the night.
06:11Seeing the Greenpeace representative leaving the restaurant, Carl and his partner, Dean,
06:16reveal that they have gone to Alaska to help in the mission to rescue the family of whales.
06:20The pair own a family business that builds de-icers and left Minnesota to take a de-icer to break
06:25up the ice on the lake. However, as she doesn't know those guys, Rachel refuses their help and
06:31walks down to the lake to help the volunteers break the ice. Meanwhile, Jill is struggling
06:35not to be replaced by her co-worker. A few days ago, she had to convince her boss to send her
06:40to Barrow, because no one was putting any faith in the repercussions of the whale case. However,
06:45now that people all over the world are following this rescue, Wes has decided to take over the story
06:50and says that Jill's tickets have already been bought so that she can return to the United States.
06:55Before returning to the lake, Rachel calls her co-worker and asks if Pat needs her to bring
07:00anything from the city. At this point, the woman discovers that the temperature of the lake has
07:04plummeted and the team is unable to keep the hole open. After receiving this news, Rachel decides to
07:10give in and goes after the pair who went to Alaska to take a defroster. Knowing that this is her last
07:15hope to save the whales, she decides to take Carl and Dean by helicopter to the lake,
07:19but they can't start the machine because the buttons are frozen. Immediately, Rachel calls Adam
07:24and asks for help. The woman informs him that they need a generator and Jill, who was whining a few
07:29minutes ago about being replaced, realizes that this could be her chance to get a big break.
07:34After stealing a power generator, the pair get into the helicopter and the pilot informs them that
07:39they will need to travel with the doors open if they want to transport a running power generator.
07:43Knowing that the equipment will not work if it is switched off, the team flies with the doors open
07:47even though they are running the risk of everyone being wiped out by the cold, as the temperature is
07:5260 degrees below zero. A few minutes later, when the group finally makes it to the lake, Jill enlists
07:58Adam's help to hold the camera and start recording while Rachel and the other volunteers continue the
08:02plan. As soon as the generator arrives on the scene, Carl and Dean mobilize to try to start the
08:07de-icing machine once again and, after a few attempts, they finally manage to get it to work.
08:12With the help of the defroster, the frozen lake has been transformed into a bubbling pool and,
08:18when he sees his co-worker covering that story in the middle of the night,
08:21Wes feels disrespected because he realizes that she won't give up that job so easily.
08:26As she was the only journalist to record that epic moment, Jill receives congratulations from her
08:30producer for her intense dedication to her work and Eddie asks to speak to Adam, as he intends to ask
08:36him to send all the videos he has recorded since arriving in Alaska. It's been three days since
08:40Colonel Scott and his men began mobilizing to transport the hovercraft to Barrow, but halfway
08:45there, the team hit a snag. While it was being transported, the machine got stuck in a hole in
08:50the ice that is bigger than the vehicle itself, causing the two helicopters that were being used
08:55to pull it almost to collide in midair. Despite knowing that it won't be possible to get the
08:59hovercraft to Barrow, Scott makes a public statement that the National Guard will not stop until the
09:04whales are safe. Now that plan A has been completely discarded, Malik and the Inupiates begin to think of a
09:10new rescue plan and team up to cut holes in the ice 20 meters apart so that the whales can follow
09:14them into the open sea. Their plan consists of opening up a path of holes so that these animals
09:19can breathe along the 8 kilometers that these whales will have to swim to reach the ocean.
09:23For many, this audacious strategy sounded like complete madness, but thanks to the goodwill they
09:28showed in helping those animals, the Inupiates gained countless admirers. Moved by all the repercussions
09:34generated by those whales, the Soviet government made its icebreaker available, which is just a few
09:39kilometers away from Barrow. The media believes that this is the perfect opportunity for these
09:44two great powers to get closer and join forces, putting aside their rivalry. However, there is
09:49still resistance from the American government to accepting the Russians' help, so Rachel and Adam
09:53meet with some of the president's representatives to decide what to do from now on. Even knowing that
09:59the Soviets are among the biggest whale hunters in the world, Rachel knows that the best way to save
10:03those whales is to swallow their pride and allow the Russians to be recognized as heroes of the
10:08environment by clearing the way for those animals. However, Colonel Scott is firmly against this idea,
10:13as he cannot accept his enemies entering American territory to save their homeland.
10:17Upon hearing this, Rachel decides to use her final card and says that when those whales lose their lives,
10:23right in front of the cameras, there will be a great national commotion and everyone will be
10:27deeply saddened by the outcome of that story. When that happens, American citizens will ask for an
10:32explanation from the Greenpeace volunteer who was in charge of the case from the start.
10:36Then, when she gives her testimony, Rachel will make it clear that it was the government that
10:41barred the Russians from entering and prevented them from helping those animals. If this happens,
10:46the American people will revolt and the current president will certainly not be re-elected and
10:50will be remembered throughout history as the one who caused the destruction of the Alaskan whale family.
10:54Thanks to this argument, Rachel manages to change the minds of all the representatives of the
10:59American government and, that same day, the members of the Soviet Navy are contacted to head
11:03towards Barrow. Despite being an extremely robust ship, when it reaches a certain part of the ocean,
11:09the icebreaker can no longer advance, as the shallow waters would cause the vessel to run aground.
11:14Therefore, the Inupiates are tasked with taking the whales to a place near the sea and they rely on
11:19the help of volunteers to dig a path through the snow in record time in the hope that these mammals
11:23will follow them. Now that his hovercraft will no longer be the protagonist of that mission,
11:28McGraw tries at all costs to make himself the target of the spotlight with his inspiring speeches so that
11:33the audience doesn't forget that he took an active part in that rescue. Seeing all those people
11:37mobilizing to save Bam Bam and his family, Rachel gets emotional and tries to stay positive,
11:43because everything indicates that the calf won't survive until he reaches the ocean.
11:47As the little one is injured, his parents stay behind with him and don't follow the holes made in
11:51the snow. However, just as the volunteers were beginning to lose hope, the adult whales began to
11:56mobilize and swam off following the tracks they had left. The problem is that Bam Bam can't keep up with
12:01his parents and this has Rachel and her team worried. At this point, everyone is convinced
12:06that the adult whales left their calf behind, but Malik says that Bam Bam most likely lost his life.
12:12The other two whales spent the whole time trying to protect him, but now that the calf is gone,
12:16they have decided to go their separate ways. When she receives this news, Rachel feels heartbroken,
12:21as she has formed a strong emotional bond with the animal. When he sees his ex-girlfriend kneeling by
12:26the lake, Adam abandons his job as a cameraman and runs to embrace her. While the journalist tries
12:32to console Rachel, Malik and the Inupiates hold Bam Bam's funeral and pay their respects to the calf.
12:37The next day, the sad news about the loss of the little whale is announced all over the news and
12:42people are moved when they find out that Bam Bam's parents stayed by his side until the very last
12:46moment. That night, McGraw approaches Rachel and congratulates her on all her efforts to save
12:51those animals. According to him, if it hadn't been for the woman's work, the whole family would have
12:56lost their lives. Finally, the man promises that he will save the other two whales whatever the cost
13:01and manages to reassure Rachel. Inspired to help make that rescue possible, all the residents of
13:07Barrow leave their jobs to cut holes in the ice. Together, the volunteers manage to open around 30
13:12holes an hour and spot the Soviet ship approaching from afar. If work continues at the same pace, the whales
13:18will be free in the ocean by the end of the day. The only problem is that there is a wall formed by
13:23the snow that is obstructing the passage of the mammals and not even the icebreaker is being able
13:27to destroy it. When he realizes that he'll have to use even more power to break the ice, the admiral
13:33uses his ship's loudspeaker to ask everyone to move away from the barrier and turns around to try a new
13:37attack. However, once again, the Russian Navy was unable to break through the wall and the noise of the
13:43collision drove away the whales, who were frightened by the attack. Desperate, Rachel and Pat try to get
13:48his attention to bring them back and they become desperate, as they know that those animals have
13:52nowhere to go, as the holes that were opened hours ago have already frozen over again. While the whales
13:57try to get to the surface to breathe and crash into the snow, the Soviets test a new collision and this
14:02time manage to destroy the ice barrier. At that moment, everyone gathers around the rubble in the
14:07hope of seeing the whales arriving in the open sea. However, to everyone's frustration, these animals do
14:13not surface and Rachel begins to believe that they have drowned. Just when everyone thought there was no
14:18hope, the whale couple emerges and, after replenishing their oxygen supply, they continue on their way
14:23through the ocean while everyone celebrates this great victory. After the rescue, all the volunteers
14:28who were not from Barrow left the town and went back to their normal lives. Mr. McGraw took advantage
14:34of his reputation as a friend of nature to win one of the largest contracts in Alaskan history to clean
14:39up all the oil spilled by an oil company. As for Carl and Dean, they became big celebrities in
14:44Minnesota and their business boomed, making them the largest defroster company in the region.
14:49A few months later, Colonel Scott married the president's secretary and the couple went to
14:53Mexico to spend their honeymoon whale watching. After working for three TV stations, Jill finally
14:58achieved her dream of being hired by a national news network and consolidated her career as an
15:03investigative reporter. Thanks to the whale family's beautiful story, which has been documented
15:08in the news in several countries, the number of Greenpeace volunteers has grown rapidly and,
15:12In just a few months, the organization has quadrupled its membership. After spending several
15:18months in Alaska, Scott decided to leave the company where he worked and returned to the
15:22United States to be close to Rachel, as he realized that he no longer wanted to live his
15:26life away from her. When the outsiders left, Nathan and his grandfather joined the other Inupiates
15:31to break up the mess the outsiders had made in the city. Now that all the American people know
15:36about them and their customs, they feel even more encouraged to perpetuate their traditions
15:40and inspire others with their way of life. So what did you think of this movie? Leave it
15:44in the comments below. And if you liked the video, like and subscribe for more movie recaps.
15:50See you next time.