Deepwater Horizon covers a shocking environmental disaster with an ending that pays tribute to the brave real-life individuals who got involved in it.
Deepwater Horizon accurately recreates a terrifying industrial disaster and then pays tribute to the fallen in a heartfelt ending. Directed by Peter Berg, the biographical disaster movie is adapted from the New York Times article “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours” to tell the story of a blowout and subsequent oil spill that happened at the titular mobile offshore drilling unit in 2010.
With Mark Wahlberg, Gina Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, and the rest of the ensemble cast playing real-life crew members of the Deepwater Horizon, Berg’s movie earned praise for sensitively portraying the crew’s struggles to survive in what is described as one of the worst industrial disasters of all time. SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT The ending, in particular, offers the real-life context behind the disaster with an emotional montage that features the plight of the Deepwater Horizon’s ill-fated crew. Much like Peter Berg's other 2016 true story-based movie Patriots Day, Deepwater Horizon features archival footage of its real-life inspirations allowing them to conclude the narrative. This approach works in realistically depicting the aftermath of the disaster without sensationalizing anything. Even though Deepwater Horizon was a box office failure, the drama serves as a fitting tribute to the people affected by the explosion more than a decade after it actually happened. The Deepwater Horizon sums up its theme of human courage in times of distress. Who Survives The Deepwater Horizon Disaster? The Deepwater Horizon ending finds the offshore unit’s distraught workers returning home, tearfully reuniting with their families. However, not all of them could make it back alive. As an archival montage toward the end reveals, 11 men lost their lives in the disaster. Berg’s movie pays respect to the fallen by featuring their pictures just before the credits. The same approach was used in Berg’s Patriots Day, which honored the heroes of the Boston Marathon bombings and its aftermath. One of the Deepwater Horizon workers who died was crane operator Aaron Dale Burkeen, who bravely sacrificed himself to prevent a burning crane from falling on the rest of the crew. Burkeen is revealed to be a close friend of Mark Wahlberg’s protagonist, the Chief Electronics Technician, Mike Williams. Mike survived with great difficulty as he and the rig's Dynamic Position Operator, Andrea Fleytas survived by jumping into the water and later being picked up by a rescue team. The ending montage reveals that Fleytas now lives in California and no longer works in the oil industry. Mike’s superior, the Offshore Installation Manager, James “Mr. Jimmy” Harrell , is shown to be still working for the offshore drilling company Transocean. After the movie’s release, Harrell passed away in 2021 following a year-long battle with cancer. Did Anyone Face Criminal Charges? The true story behind the Deepwater Horizon explosion points to human error as a major cause. Characters like Donald Vidrine and Robert Kaluza are repeatedly shown to be ignoring the safety concerns of the crew, a folly that causes death and disaster. As the Deepwater Horizon ending montage reveals, the real Vidrine and Caluza faced criminal charges for their unprofessional supervision as managers under the British oil and gas company BP. The ex-BP managers were prosecuted for their actions, facing 11 counts of manslaughter on account of those who died in the blowout. These charges were eventually dismissed in 2015. With the story that Deepwater Horizon dramatizes, the movie is keen to point fingers at Vidrine and Caluza’s ignorance as the reason why 11 men died aboard the drilling unit. The ending becomes all the more tragic as the film shows that the ones who supposedly caused the disaster never faced justice. The decision to incorporate these facts can be understood better from what Berg himself feels about the whole matter. As he told NPR, “There clearly was no intent to kill anyone on the part of BP or these men. But there was negligence, and there were decisions that were made that clearly led to the loss of life.” How The Disaster Traumatized Mike Williams The final scene preceding the montage is crucial for showing Mike Williams’s changed personality. A far cry from Mark Wahlberg’s movies where he similarly plays rebellious characters, Mike is a hero who is more grounded in reality. Despite showing a great deal of bravery in surviving the disaster, the experience leaves him with disappointment and gloom. As he steps into a hotel lobby along with the other survivors, he's confronted by a concerned father asking for his son’s whereabouts. It’s implied that the son was one of Mike’s 11 dead crew members. Ultimately becoming the bearer of the bad news, Mike doesn’t have an answer and has a panic attack. The Deepwater Horizon ending ultimately humanizes its lead character, covering how a disaster can leave long-lasting trauma on an individual. The subsequent montage even mentions how the real-life Mike Williams never returned to the sea again. He now lives with his family in Texas instead. The movie did cover Williams’s brave exploits, but the ending also managed to capture the fear that he felt. As Williams told People about the movie, "It's very anxiety-inducing. Reliving each of those critical moments, those critical time stamps, they’re all very vivid in my memory,”. He revealed in the same interview that he also struggled with PTSD and survivor’s guilt for over two years. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Was The Worst Oil Disaster In U.S. History The Deepwater Horizon ending reasserts the fact that the oil spill became the worst oil disaster in American history. To quote the postscript from the movie, “The blowout lasted for 87 days, spilling an estimated 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.” Going beyond what the movie suggests, the disaster had a massive environmental impact. According to the National Ocean Service, scientists pointed out how the oil spill led to the deaths of thousands of marine mammals and sea turtles while also contaminating their habitat. Leaving 11 dead, 17 injured and the environment severely changed, the oil spill was truly lamentable. The Real Meaning Of Deepwater Horizon’s Ending Deepwater Horizon is a story of human survival against all odds, and the ending bears testimony to it with a tragic montage that perfectly goes with the movie’s overall serious tone. The ending might not be a particularly happy one, but it still offers hope as it mentions the real-life whereabouts of survivors like Mike Williams and Andrea Fleytas as they get a new chance at restarting their lives. At the same time, adequate focus is put on the fallen ones with their faces and names prominently mentioned before the credits. This obituary goes on to make the Deepwater Horizon ending more well-rounded and respectful.
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