The Toronto Star gave SAVING LUNA an excellent review:
Saving Luna
(out of 4)
Directed by Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit. 93 minutes.
AMC Yonge & Dundas; Mount Pleasant, 675 Mount Pleasant Ave. G
The real-life story of Luna – the orphaned male orca that found itself abandoned in 2001 in B.C.'s Nootka Sound and opted for human company over finding its pod – begs big-budget Hollywood treatment.
It has all the right components: a baby killer whale relentlessly seeks contact with humans; self-important fisheries department officials, under the thrall of well-meaning cetacean behaviour specialists and "anthropomorphization police," make it an offence for humans to interact with the animal; First Nations inhabitants of Nootka Sound see Luna as the embodiment of the spirit of an ancestor and go to extraordinary lengths to prevent it from being moved; commercial fishermen want the bothersome beast killed; leisure boaters fear the whale's playful antics; and to cap the drama, a media circus amplifies the animal's story to mythological proportions.
Blockbuster stuff. But nothing Hollywood could do to embellish the compelling tragedy – Luna's adventures, well chronicled in the Canadian media, ended when the whale fell afoul of a trawler's propeller in 2006 – would say more about the mysterious relationship between humans and wild animals than Canadian nature journalists and filmmakers Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm have with their documentary Saving Luna.
Their original 2004 brief was simple enough: spend three weeks evaluating the orca's apparent need for human company and write it up for the Smithsonian Institution – not a big task for seasoned writers, photographers and filmmakers with National Geographic credits. But as co-director and narrator Parfit explains in the film, the story's dimensions and dynamics kept changing. After all, the forbidden divide was breached by the animal, not by humans.
Chronicling the implications of that rare act meant sticking by Luna's side for as long as the story took to play out.
With the patience and detachment of true scientists, the filmmakers resist – even disparage – the urge to ascribe human qualities and rationale to the orca's actions and attempts to communicate.
They focus instead on photographing Nootka Sound's majestic other-worldliness and the bewildering efforts of humans to cope with what is, on one hand, a creature in peril and on the other, a dangerous nuisance.
That Parfit and Chisholm eventually become part of the story is inevitable. Breaking the order imposed by Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, as well as defying his own scientific and journalistic imperatives, Parfit finally cannot resist making eye contact with the animal and strokes its warm body.
That simple, satisfying act wordlessly acknowledges the existence of a bridge between the consciousness of the wild unknown and so-called civilized human beings – "a friendship deeper than we know," Parfit says – that has been building inexorably throughout the film and is its very purpose.
No science explains it. Parfit and Chisholm don't even try to deconstruct the mystery of which they've become a part, nor do they over-sentimentalize the whale's dilemma, behaviour and undoing.
As witness to both human folly and faith, and to Luna's evident choice to live among us, Saving Luna raises more questions than it attempts to answer.
But it does deliver a powerful argument: We may have more to learn from animals than they do from us, and intellectually separating ourselves from them – even for the benefit of the wild kingdom – may not be such a great idea.
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And here's an amazing review by Liz Braun from Sun Media:
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Saving Luna is a film about a lonely little whale who tried to befriend humans in Nootka Sound. Just so you know, this is a movie that makes grown men cry.
Luna, a baby Orca, became a cause celebre in Canada several years ago when he was separated from his pod.
Luna came on his own to the west coast of Vancouver Island, a rare event. Orcas are social animals, and Luna was extremely lonely. And so he sought out human company, swimming up to boats in Nootka Sound and allowing people to interact with him.
Filmmakers Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit went to the village of Gold River in 2004 to investigate Luna and write a magazine article about the juvenile whale who was stirring up controversy.
They intended to stay for three weeks. They ended up staying for three years.
Scientists believe that interaction between wild animals and humans generally leads to grief for both parties. As a result, fishery officials involved in the Luna case told people not to befriend the little whale -- in order to keep themselves, and Luna, safe.
Native groups in Gold River, however, saw Luna as a supernatural being, the spirit of a recently deceased chief. They interfered with plans to move the Orca away, fearing that Luna was secretly bound for captivity in a marine amusement park.
Some boat owners and fishermen, meanwhile, saw Luna as a nuisance, a large and uncontrolled force whose 'playing' damaged boats. And when Luna began trying to play with the expensive float planes that landed in the area, there were those who wanted the Orca shot.
Saving Luna examines the various viewpoints involved in the situation of the orphan whale, but the filmmakers seem most interested in the idea of friendship and communication among species.
What did Luna need from humans? What was at stake for him? What should have been done to protect him?
Extraordinary footage is the highlight of Saving Luna. It is truly mind-boggling to see and hear the Orca, an endearing creature whose playfulness is unexpected and surprisingly moving. Everyone charged with not showing friendship to Luna (including the officials who threatened to fine people for patting the whale) wound up being won over by the whale.
Luna pursued friendship with humans. The film is full of interviews with officials, local people and scientists, and almost everyone who encountered the whale talks about how much they came to love him. Luna had a distinct personality.
Saving Luna is a truly fascinating movie, both entertaining and educational, and it has won 18 awards at various film festivals around the world.
As it's not devoid of tragedy, the movie is not suitable for very young children.
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