History Film / BigMiracle

* BittersweetEnding: Well, more sweet than bitter. [[spoiler: The whales are freed from the ice, but the youngest one has already died before it happened.]]

''Big Miracle'' is a 2012 Family {{Drama}} based on the true story of the 1988 international rescue effort [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Breakthrough “Operation Breakthrough”]] to free a family of three gray whales trapped in the ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. It stars Creator/JohnKrasinski, Creator/DrewBarrymore, Creator/KristenBell and Creator/TedDanson.

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: [[spoiler: At the end of the film the two adult whales “Fred” and “Wilma” are saved and seen swimming out to the open ocean, in real life it was unconfirmed whether the two remaining whales survived and made it to the open ocean.]]

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: During the meeting with the whaling captains in front of the media, Rachel argues with the Inupiat community about the fate of the whales, she brings up that they want kill a family including a baby and they argue that they depend on whaling to survive and feed their own families, they also both make poor arguments such as Rachel telling them that they could instead buy food from the money that comes from oil (which is not a permanent solution) and the Inupiat whalers claim that the whales pick the whalers and so the trapped whales have chosen them (which is just their own beliefs which can’t be substantiated).

--> '''Jill:''' I'm just a smelly, drunk, depressed barbie.
* CatUpATree: Whale up a glacier

* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler: The youngest of the three whales nicknamed “Bam-Bam” dies before they can freed.]]

* HatsOffToTheDead: Most of the residents of Utqiagvik take their hats off after [[spoiler: Bam-Bam dies]].

* HypocriticalHeartwarming: Adam gets a phone call which is Jill who has seen his news report on the whales and demanding an expiation for why he didn’t contact her about the situation (because she is worried for the whales lives). He responds by using her words when they broke up to point out that they are no longer in a relationship (so he is not obligated to contact her), he also explains that even if he did call her there is nothing she could do, she disagrees because “there is always something you can do”.

--> '''Adam:''' [[spoiler: Where's Bam-Bam]]?

* NonIdleRich: Well maybe not ''rich'', but the Eskimos are receiving large annual checks for oil drilling on their lands, but continue whaling rather than just buy all of their food. Rachel is pretty pissed off about this.. When she points it out at a tribal meeting, Roy, one of the whaling captains, points out that the oil won't last forever, and they need to keep teaching their children whaling so they're prepared for if/when they have to back to fishing to survive.
* NotQuiteSavedEnough: [[spoiler: Rachel dives down with the whales risking her life to remove a net from Bam-Bam's tail which has been harming him and making him weaker, but he still ends up dying later on.]]