TV Review: Secrets of the Whales (2021)

If I asked you to picture in your mind a movie starring a 3-story-tall animal fighting every day for survival you probably start channeling images of Godzilla or King Kong. But if you imagine it as a marine mammal and place it on its side, swimming … now you have got a Killer whale, also known as an Orca.

Orca Dynasty, executively produced by James Cameron is the latest documentary from National Geographic that takes an in-depth look at the Orca Whale and how their environment plays a part in their cultural diversity of these highly intelligent creatures.

Orcas in the Falkland Islands pursue powerful elephant seals – a feat they can’t do alone. (National Geographic for Disney+/Kevin Krug)

More than 25,000 orcas inhabit the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Awkward on land and graceful in the water, Gentoo penguins are a favorite orca prey in the waters off Antarctica. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Orcas in New Zealand follow a unique hunting technique: taking stingrays off the bottom – sometimes in very shallow water. (National Geographic for Disney+/Kina Scollay)

An orca poses with its quarry for National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry. The New Zealand population of whales are the only known members in the world to pursue stingrays on the seabed. (National Geographic for Disney+/Kina Scollay)

A member of the National Geographic film team frees an orca that had entangled itself in a buoy line off of New Zealand’s north island. (National Geographic for Disney+/Stephen Hathaway)

The driving motor for Orca Dynasty, was to follow the Orcas feeding patterns to gain insight into the ways the massive creatures thrive together and eat. The Center of Gravity of the documentary is culture, and how that culture helps the ORCAS survive.

When you think of culture as a a way of life of a group of people–the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept come to mind, but for the Orca in this cinematic piece, it is about how they used learned skills without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

Underwater cinematographer Adam Geiger prepares to dive with humpback whales. (National Geographic for Disney+/Brian Armstrong)

Antarctic icebergs dwarfed the team’s expedition vessel, The Australis, while the team filmed humpbacks at the bottom of the world. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Whales are oceanic mammals – they need air to breathe, and they do so through a strategically positioned blowhole at the top of their heads. The force of an exhale is great, sending water 15 feet up at an impressive 300 miles per hour. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Humpback whales undergo one of the longest migrations of any mammal on Earth – over 6,000 miles. (National Geographic for Disney+/Adam Geiger)

Scientists believe humpbacks breach to communicate to other whales – although it also looks like fun. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Humpback whale calves are born more than 10 feet long. (National Geographic for Disney+/Adam Geiger)

Orca Dynasty will change your perception with some life lessons. The amount of stuff I learned on Orca’s was ridiculous: from Orca Offensive strategy during the hunt, to their defensive strategy in protecting their young Even how certain groups of Orcas have training diverse phases, and that can make the difference in their individual success and for the group.

Narration:

Narrated by Sigourney Weaver, Orca Dynasty feels more like an African Folklore at times more than a documentary. At times Weaver does deliver in the monotonal voice familiar to National Geographic, but there were some great sequences ending one-lines and quite a couple of quotes that belong as memes, or T-shirts, such as the iconic phrase from the commentator is” Close! But Close don’t eat!

The sun sits just above the horizon in the arctic for 24 hours each summer. (National Geographic for Disney+/Thomas Miller)

Leads are narrow, linear cracks in the ice that form when giant floes move parallel to each other. They become whale highways until the ice completely breaks apart. (National Geographic for Disney+/Ernie Kovacs)

From left to right: Directors of Photography Hayes Baxley, Owen Bissell, and Peter Kragh prepare to film belugas in remote West Hudson Bay. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Aerial cinematographer Thomas Miller films elusive Arctic whales with a specialty camera stabilizer called a Cineflex. (National Geographic for Disney+/Thomas Miller)

Despite having teeth, belugas do not chew their food. They rip up prey into pieces and swallow them whole. (National Geographic for Disney+/Peter Kragh)

Belugas are extremely social and have been nicknamed the “canary of the sea” because of their rich and varied vocal range. (National Geographic for Disney+/Peter Kragh)

Cinematography

Delivering all the up close “that couldn’t be me moments” Luis Lamar, as the Underwater Director of Photograph also on duty for the cinematography is Brian Armstrong, and Andy Mitchell. Maybe it was because I was not expecting tons of underwater photography, but I was surprised at how well it turned out Coupled with the Aerial Cinematography of Thomas Miller, the footage delivered and an intriguing look into the Orca’s familial relationships.

Direction:

The director does not focus on one type of whale, ‘Free Willie’ style, but instead give glimpses into the Orca. Methodically, endearing the species to the viewer by depicting its vulnerability to its environment while at the same time demonstrating its uncanny predator side, striking an eerie balance, that makes you forget you are watching a documentary.

The National Geographic team tracked sperm whales off of the remote islands of the Azores, in the center of the Atlantic Ocean. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Sperm whales prefer to hunt far beneath the surface. They routinely stay an hour below and can explore as deep as 10,000 feet – all on one breath. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Many sperm whales are wandering nomads. They travel freely across vast stretches of ocean and stop to interact with local whales. (National Geographic for Disney+/Hayes Baxley)

Marine biologist Asha DeVos studies a sample of sperm whale dung, which will give her clues into what the whales are eating. (National Geographic for Disney+/Andrew Mitchell)

Whales are more like us than we ever thought possible. New research shows that they are deeply intelligent beings with their own distinct cultures around the globe. (National Geographic for Disney+/Luis Lamar)

The National Geographic team traveled to Sri Lanka to test the theory that sperm whale populations have different dialects. (National Geographic for Disney+/Andrew Mitchell)

Note to Prospective Viewers:

After watching this today, I was enthralled with the information gained. Once, again this documentary is a potential perception changer. Now I care more about the Killer whale than I ever did before, but I felt angry at how much the Orca’s environment was dangerously polluted and their resources being drained. Secondly King Kong and Godzilla, and the Expendables have nothing on these amazing creatures. But I was also perplexed at the fact that there are not more Killer Whale theatrical movies. Sure, there was The Meg (2018) which did well. I would note that some of it may not be for young or sensitive viewers, mostly due to its graphic depictions of dead whales, stingray, and seals.

* Episode airs 22 April 2021

SCORE: 9/10

Trailer: