Favorite Flicks: Free Willy

© 1993 Warner Bros.
Running time: 112 min. Rated PG
Jason James Richter, Lori Petty, Keiko

 

PLOT

When troubled orphan Jesse vandalizes a marine park, he is assigned to a new foster family and required to clean up the damage he’s caused. While he’s at the marine park, he befriends a captive orca, or killer whale, named Willy. Captured from the wild and separated from his family, Willy is lonely and refuses to perform tricks for his trainers. Jesse and Willy bond and rescue each other from dangerous situations. When the marine park’s owner tries to kill Willy in a plot to collect insurance money, Jesse hatches a plan to save Willy and release him back into the wild, uniting him with his family.

HUMANE MESSAGES & OTHER GOOD POINTS

• Shows the complex, loving relationships that exist among orcas in family groups (pods). This is demonstrated in the beautiful opening sequence, which shows an orca pod interacting in the wild, and also at the end, when Willy is reunited with his family members.

• Explores the problems associated with keeping wild animals in captivity. For example, Jesse asks why Willy’s dorsal fin is limp and learns that the condition occurs only in captive orcas. When Jesse hears Willy calling for his family, he realizes that Willy belongs not in a tank but in the ocean with his family.

• Raises questions about the morality of exploiting animals for entertainment and profit. Although Willy’s trainer and caretaker both advise the marine park’s owner that Willy’s tank is far too small, he refuses to buy a larger tank until Willy performs well enough to bring more paying visitors to the park. "Making money is what we’re all about," he states blatantly. Later, he plots to kill Willy to collect on his million-dollar insurance policy.

• Emphasizes the importance of a stable, loving family in the lives of both people and animals. Willy "adopts" Jesse as his family member, which helps relieve his loneliness until he is reunited with his pod. Likewise, Jesse finally accepts the fact that his biological mother is never coming back and embraces the security and love offered by his new foster family.

• Explores the ability of an individual to make life-changing decisions. Although Jesse has been dealt a difficult hand, it’s up to him to turn his life around. As he bonds with Willy and his foster family, he comes to reject his previous way of life.

POINTS TO PONDER

From a humane perspective, few movies are perfect. Following are potential problems with the film that you may wish to address with your children or students.

• A message at the end of the film states: "No whales were harassed or mistreated during the making of this film." However, after the movie’s release, it was revealed that Keiko, the orca who played Willy, was in poor health and living in grossly inadequate conditions in Mexico City—similar to those criticized in the film. The revelation caused an uproar among animal protection organizations and schoolchildren, who demanded that Keiko receive better treatment. The controversy led to the formation of the Free Willy Foundation, now called the Ocean Futures Society. After a much- publicized rescue and rehabilitation, Keiko once again swam in the open waters around Iceland and Norway. Ten years later, in December 2003, he died.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

A whale of a story. Have students write Keiko’s autobiography—the story of his life, from his days as a calf to his death in 2003, told from his point of view. Encourage them to imagine and describe Keiko’s feelings: How did he feel when he was captured and separated from his family? What was it like living in an undersized tank at Mexico City? How did he feel about his return to the wild?

Two books worth a look. Read aloud Do the Whales Still Sing? by Dianne Hofmeyr (New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995), the story of a whale hunter who has a change of heart. Older students may enjoy In the Company of Whales, by Alexandra Morton (Custer, WA: Orca Book Publishers, 1993). The author, a whale watcher, shares her observations and color photographs of orcas and other animals in British Columbia, Canada. In 1995, In the Company of Whales won the KIND Children’s Book Award, which recognizes an outstanding children’s book with a humane focus on animals or the environment. For more information on the KIND Children's Book Award, previous winners of the award, and additional recommended reading, click here.

All in the family. Explain to students that like humans, chimpanzees, lions, wolves, and other social animals, orcas (who are actually dolphins) live in complex family groups. Whale and dolphin groups are called pods. Have students study the social behavior of orcas or other dolphins or whales who live in pods, such as pilot whales or belugas. Have students complete "family albums" of their whales or dolphins, including descriptions of parenting, hunting, and play behavior, as well as their own illustrations.

What's in a name. Explain to children that orcas are often called killer whales, not because they’re dangerous to humans (there are no known cases of a wild orca killing a human), but rather because they are proficient hunters. Their size, skill, and speed (orcas can swim 34 miles per hour) put them at the top of the marine food chain. Pods of orcas hunt as a team to herd fish. Orcas are even known to come up on shore or ice floes to capture seals and sea lions, often by tipping them into the water!

Get the facts. For more advanced students interested in learning what The HSUS is doing to help captive marine animals, point the way to www.hsus.org.