The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52

Greetings again from the darkness. The old adage goes, "There's someone for everyone." Even for the outsiders and misfits. But what if there is only one? First heard by Navy research in 1989, "the Loneliest Whale in the World" has been named "52" due to his unique 52 Hertz call. He has never been seen and his song was last heard in 2003 ... so there is no guarantee he's still alive. Director Joshua Zemen has long been fascinated by the legend of 52 - a majestic creature assumed to be living in isolation since no other whales can hear his call.

It's a sad story and one that caused a social frenzy as so many related their own stories of loneliness, proving yet again how humans connect with the animal kingdom. Whales have long played a role in the bible (Jonah) and in literature (Captain Ahab from "Moby Dick"), but 52's unusual call was picked up thanks to the Navy's Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) which had been developed to track submarines during war time. It took the late Oceanographer Bill Watkins to recognize the call as biological, creating the origin of the legend and mystery. Watkins claimed we can hear more than we see in the ocean, and there's much to learn from those sounds.

When the 52 Hertz call was once again heard, director Zemen secured funding for a 7-day excursion off the Santa Barbara coast with the goal of locating the whale. He assembled a team of Oceanographers, Biologists, and researchers - each knowledgeable and passionate. Zemen is the outsider of this group, and in the film's only flaw, allows himself to be the focus a bit too often. Interspersed within the 7 day mission are history lessons regarding the hunting of whales, once commonplace. All of that changed with the 1970 best-selling record entitled, "Songs of the Humpback Whales". Hearing their calls and singing led directly to the "Save the Whales" era - and the hunting and slaughtering was cut by 99 percent.

Director Zemen is having quite the year, as his excellent docuseries, "The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness" was recently released. Here he works hard at instilling some entertainment into the science project by including the captain's 52 Lost Love music tape featuring Pablo Cruise, and a quick segment with the quirky and brilliant Kate Micucci ... plus a humorous moment informing us that single bunks are for one person. The film doesn't get the "tied up with a bow" ending Zemen and the researchers might hope for, but the mystery shifts a bit, and we realize how much we've enjoyed spending time with these smart, caring folks. Leonardo DiCaprio donated $50,000 to the project and is listed as an Executive Producer for the film that offers some close-ups and details that are likely new to many of us.

Bleeker Street will release the film in theaters nationwide on July 9 and on Digital July 16.

"The Loneliest Whale - The Search for 52" (2021 release; 96 min.) is a documentary about the (in)famous "52-hertz whale", whose call, which is unlike any other whale's, was first registered by the US Navy in 1992, but last was heard of in 2004. We are introduced to Josh Zeman, who is fascinated about the stories and the many ,many articles about the "loneliest whale in the world", whose call can be heard, but not understood, by other whales. Zeman puts together a team of experts, and off they go on a 7 day search off the coast of southern California, like looking for a needle in a haystack... At this point we are less than 15 min. Into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this movie was first announced in 2015, and it took writer-producer-director Josh Zeman literally years to pursue this long project. Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the earliest co-producers. The film brings a number of sidebars as we go on the hunt for 52: how whales communicate with each other; the impact of the tens of thousands of container ships into/out of LA and Long Beach; etc. Along the way we are treated to some gorgeous footage of blue whales, fin whales, humpback whales, etc. (Beware: there is also a short but brutal and nauseating segment on whale hunting, But of course the overwhelming question you have is: do they find the 52-hertz whale? And it the 52-hertz whale indeed the loneliest whale on the planet. I'm not going to spoil it of course. Please note that this film sadly is the very last score of film composer Alex Lasarenko (to whom the movie is dedicated).

"The Loneliest Whale: The Search For 52" opened last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Sunday matinee screening where I saw this at was not attended well (exactly 6 people, including myself). Regardless, if you like nature documentaries, or have a particular interest in the 52-hertz whale, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (better hurry), on Amazon Instant Video and other streaming services, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Guys. If you want to hear them whales, talk to them. Next time please take some underwater speakers and play sounds from whales. They will talk back. It's been done and proven many times.. You guys dropt microphones and are hoping to find 1 whale out of thousands. Common man. Next time be more clever about it. If you want to prove to the world whales are socially smart beings, then at least do an effort to connect to them.

Personally I think Orcas are much smarter. How they hunt together cleverly, how they create waves to wash seals of ice plates, how they use their weight to flip ice plates and above seals off it, how they avoid humans in water knowing that they don't want to eat them even if they could, they seem much more smarter. I mean if whales are so smart, why are they still hit so many times by ships and do they rarely do an effort to avoid ships, even if they clearly hear the coming with their great hearing. I think it almost never happens to orcas or dolphins. They seen more conscious about their surroundings and the danger.

Compliments about the intriguing music. And about the visuals, it made me want to watch until the end, although it was disappointing as a whole.

A few shots of whales, some sound bites, then backstory. More backstory and history then a few bits of whale hunting. And repeat.

Incredibly slow paced and uneventful, but then they are hunting for a whale in the oceans and have been searching for years.

Bring in the musicians to add some thoughts. More backstory, then end the film.

The film makers only got enough funding for a 7 day search and that just isn't enough time to do a thorough search. Throw pieces together and wrap it up, stretch it out and call it a day. As a fan this was such a let down.

I can appreciate that the filmmakers were probably trying to make a serious documentary with spell binding music and the big mystery of where the hell could this lonely whale be situated in the ocean? But after watching 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, and so on, and so on, I realized there is no mystery here to be discovered. I am going to assume some environmental group in conjunction with a government funded project like the millions of dollars spent on examining the Tse Tse Fly went gung ho and spent years as well as a few more millions of wasted tax payor funds searching for this whale coined "52" due to this so called mysterious whale calling out at 52 Hz, a frequency unrecognized by other whales.

I did suffer through the entire documentary and all I got out of it was a whole heap of frustration as both the quality of the documentary and the boring flow of the film was as entertaining as watching a Joe Biden speech waiting for his next faux pas.

I give this documentary a 4 out of 10 IMDb rating.