Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that In the Heart of the Sea is based on Nathaniel Philbrick's best-selling nonfiction book about the 19th-century maritime disaster that inspired Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. There's quite a bit of violence in the film: The whale damages the characters' ship so completely that lives are lost (men drown and are burned, crushed, and more), and others spend three months stranded. During that time, the survivors commit cannibalism (discussed but not shown) and suicide/self sacrifice so that the others might eat. Characters also use guns and drink, and a couple are alcoholics (one recovering, one who uses alcohol to numb painful memories).
Sexual
Content
A couple of marital kisses; quick glimpse of a man's pin-up tattoo of a topless, buxom woman.
Violence
Intense peril and many deaths and disasters: men drown, starve to death, and are killed by injuries caused by the whale or ship parts; they're also crushed by falling debris and burned. Men threaten one another with guns/pistols, and one shoots himself so that the others might eat him (overt references to/discussion of cannibalism, but the act itself isn't shown). Several dead bodies visible.
Language
"Goddammit," "damn it," "s--t," "ass," "son of a b--ch"
Social
Behavior
Positive messages about teamwork and loyalty, but also complicated messages about the moral ambiguity of what's required to survive under extreme circumstances.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Whalers drink wine and hard liquor at meals. In the framing story, Herman Melville and another character drink whiskey to the point of drunkenness. Two characters are considered alcoholics.
