Parents' Guide to Patrick and the Whale

Parents need to know that the educational nature documentary Patrick and the Whale contains some beautiful scenes of whales in their natural habitats, as well as images and discussion of violence to whales, including by humans. The star and narrator, cinematographer Patrick Dykstra, puts himself in potentially dangerous situations on camera (he's fine) when he twice tries to place a camera on a whale's body. By example, he shows that learning about the animal kingdom can have lessons for humans, and Dykstra says that if humans treated each other like the communal sperm whales treat each other, the world would be a better place. He is visibly moved in several scenes, including one where he walks among the corpses of a group of "teenager" male sperm whales who have "stranded," or washed up and died, on a beach. Other moving scenes involve his emotional connections with individual whales. He shows the whales great compassion, and they reciprocate. A historical practice of "whaling," or killing whales, is discussed, and images are shown of dozens or hundreds of whales being attacked at once: Because of their communal nature, the whales put themselves in harm's way if one is attacked. Dykstra says "tens of thousands" were likely killed this way. More contemporary humanmade dangers, such as ship strikes, fishing gear entanglements, and ocean pollution, still compromise the world's whale population.

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