MovieChat Forums > Orca (1977) Discussion > Is it committing suicide at the end??

Is it committing suicide at the end??

posted 14 years ago by mchlelkins
9 replies | jump to latest

Is the damn whale committing suicide after it kills Richard Harris, for it goes under the large glacier of ice and it looks like it cant get out, thus purposily drowning.
Any thoughts? I think the filmmakers left it up to our own imaginations. Some who are rooting for the whale may look at the ending as it just swimming away, mysteriously under a glacier.
Others, who feel like the whale deserves to die due to the number of people it killed may find it a relief that the whale drowned a lonely death under the ice...

[–] theSUMMERVILLEslasher 14 years ago

I always wonderded what that really was about, but I think we were meant to believe that he WAS committing suicide, since his mate and child were gone and he had gotten his revenge, so everything was done.

I always took it as the whale killed himself.

[–] brtkrbzhnv 14 years ago

I rooted for the whale. I felt that after losing his wife, the only meaning his life had was to seek revenge for her death, and after doing that, all he could do was to let go of his meaningless existence and join her in death.

As for the collateral damage, one should note that all of that could have been avoided if the town had simply extradited the killer.

[–] WWu777 13 years ago

Animals don't commit suicide. Only humans do. The whale was just swimming away to the ocean.

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[–] TarkusLV 12 years ago

Animals don't burn down buildings, either. What's your point?

YAAAAAY! Now you go, lady!

[–] tanis1920 12 years ago

Suicide or freedom? I always thought neither. He wasn't free to swim in the open ocean nor was committing suicide. I always took it that he had no way out. He was tramped. He got what he wanted (revenge) but it cost him his life in the end sadly. The ice was a metaphor representing the isolation one ultimately gets from seeking such dark purposes.

Totally could be over thinking it. I always wanted him to be free though

[–] HombreOfAnotherEra 12 years ago

you're not overthinking it at all. the ice glacier was isolation because the whale had no way out. and somehow knew that too. once it was under water, he could not come back to the surface for air.

[–] Hey_Sweden 12 years ago

No, I don't think that would be over thinking it.

What do you think this is, a signature? It's a way of life!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lm362 8 years ago

i do not believe so, for we would have to say that death from intense grief is suicide, but it is not. The animal, likely sustaining a mortal wound and also continuing to intensely grieve was dying from both things.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
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