It's been quite some time since there was any breath of life given to this thread. However, I would like to clear out any misconceptions involving the truth behind this film.
The whale and the dolphin are scientificaly regarded as the 2 most intelligent creatures on the planet. Next being the elephant and then, mankind. The reason behind this order is due to the fact is (point intended) that man is the only creature who possesses the thought process of plotting vengence, revenge and/or retaliation. Ironically, man puts himself forthright because of this intelligence.
The elephant will sometimes retaliate when it itself is abused. And being an elephants memory is unusually long and accurate, when it kills, it is termed as homicidal. Which in a way it is. But it's not premeditated It's instict!
The same applies to these oceanic mammals. Where the whale has the same intellect as the elephant, only it's in a different environment where man is less active & effective.
Considering also that the Orca is monogamous.
Where the story of "ORCA" detours of the beaten track is the revenge of a whale. It's simply not in their nature.
"A naked American man stole my balloons".
An American Werewolf In London

'I heard this movie is loosely based on a true story.
From what little I have heard(a long time ago), the true story revolves around a small fishing community in Eastern Canada. Apparently a whale was killed, just like in the movie, in an attempt to capture it for an aquarium. Afterwards its mate hung about the cove and would attack any boat that came out to fish.
Can anyone confirm this, or know where I can find out about it?'
I have heard that story as well. Im not sure where or when I heard it, but never had any idea or thought that this movie was based upon it, even if only loosely.
Now, Im not saying the story is true, but I believe that the version I heard (or possibly saw) was based upon events back in the late 19th early 20th century.
hjl
Star Wars Episode IV.V: The Holiday Special.

i bet it could be loosely based on the voyage of the whaling ship Essex; the same thing that spawned moby dick"vengeful whale sinks ship"there you go, based on a true story. Just like Texas Chainsaw is based on a "true" story

now thats purely just a load of fish food!!!!!!!!

Well your wrong because these "killer whale whale hunts" often go on for 6-8 hours, plenty of time for a big whale to get out of their territory. And blue whales don't eat fish anyway. Orcas do kill for sport and often cruelly so.
"Scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist."James Woods

" It appears that they do it for sport. Animals do not understand sympathy folks."
If you believe that then where would they get their understanding of sport. I would think killing larger whales is a territorial manuever. There are plenty of fish in the seaunless some blue whale is sucking them all up.

Well I actually live in the fishing community where it was shot on the east coast of Nfld.I havn't actually heard n e thing about weather it is loosly based on a true story or not but ill ask around!

I did see a "When Animals Attack" show where a girl was riding a captive orca and when she was getting off of it it bit her leg pretty badly. Also, they don't just kill to eat. They do attack and kill larger whales and more often than not, they don't eat them. It appears that they do it for sport. Animals do not understand sympathy folks.
"Scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist."James Woods

I know so much about orcas now, possibly too much

Documentaries and books on orcas.
Mandy
I had a cool sig, it exceeded 100 char. So instead of something cool, you have me complaining.

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Orcas will/can kill blue whales. A pod of orcas wil continually ram into one until it opens it mouth. As soon as it does so one of the orcas will swim in and rip/pull the tongue out. A blue whale cannot swim/float without it's tongue. So the whale will sink. I can't remember if the orcas eat them or not.. this was info i learnt bak whe i was obsessed with them now i'm just petrified of anything from the ocean haha.
Mandy
I had a cool sig, it exceeded 100 char. So instead of something cool, you have me complaining.

Well that's common sense. You can see it as a farm of cows. THey keep the seals there to feed upon kill to much and your foodsource will die out. So they don't want to kill to many. There are more creatures on this plannet who actually farm other animals including ants. Wether this is on inteligence or instinct, I don't know if they discovered that yet. This can be instinct because, but it is known that some creatures do learn things. Like Orang Otangs, they teach thier children what fruit blushed on what tree in what time ofthe year.

This movie was loosely based on Herman Melville's Moby Dick. It's more than obvious.

Thanks for the information. i find orcas totally fascinating. Saw this documentary once, about how orcas hunt seals. There was this one scene after killing a few and having their fill, they escorted one of the seals, nudged it to land and left. Amazing animals

Killers of Eden was an awesome documentary and very true.
Just to clear it up, only once have orcas even killed a human, Keltie Bryne at Sealand of the Pacific. She fell in, the three orcas had never had humans in the water, they tried to play with her and she drowned. Another time a man died in an orca tank after jumping in after hours, but he died of hypothermia, the orca didn't hurt him. Occasionally orcas in captivity have shown aggression towards each other and trainers, but the fact that there's only been 1 death when they obviously have the capacity to kill whenever they want should tell you something. An orca once grabbed a surfer, who required stitches, but immediately let him go. It's never been proven that orcas have attacked boats, although occasionally they bump into them, or other large whales bump into them, which can cause considerable damage and really scare people. They don't really have a sense of smell. Dolphins scatter at the sight/sound of transient (mammal-eating) orcas but they often pester resident (fish-eating) orcas and pick up scraps around them, bothering the whales. Killer whales often go out of the way NOT to harm people, for instance last year a whale came rushing up to a little boy in the surf, probably mistaking him for a seal, but when the whale could see the boy clearly, it turned abruptly and left, not even touching the kid. In Antartica, they will surround ice sometimes thinking it's seals, but they've never actually tried to break the ice, instead just curiously looking at the humans.
Oh yeah, and this movie was NOT based on a true story, trust me. And orcas don't mate for life.
Ok, I'm done rambling. I realize I just listed a bunch of random facts, but oh well

I have yet to find anything close to resembling this on the internet, so I am thinking it was probably purely fiction.
Actually I saw a really excellent show a few months ago on a story of cooperation between man and killer whales. It was on an episode of Nature, titled "Killers of Eden". I think there is a book that is recently out on the same subject, by the same name. Its about a pod of Killer Whales hung around the Australian whaling town of Eden, where they would herd other migrating whales into the shallow bay for the local whalers to kill. Cooperation was so close, apparently the killer whales even helped to pull on ropes to help secure the other whales. Once the whalers had killed the whale, they would leave the carcass in the bay overnight for the killer whales to eat the tongue. This was known as the "Pact of the Tongue".
Heres a link to the Nature episode site: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/killers/clode.html
A really, really fascinating story. I highly recommend a watch if you see its going to be on again.

Sorry Plutokrypton but I, and many other beg to differ. Orcas are seen in Newfoundland waters quite often. Actually pods of Orcs have been sighted a number of times off Cape Spear which, as you know, is just around the corner from Petty Harbour. Just this summer (2006) my brother and his family sighted a pod off the headland down Flatrock. He always carries his video camera but on that day neglected to do so. He is still kicking himself. My cousin, an avid whale watcher (who lives right on the water) has seen Orcas off Cape Spear and other places as well.
Try a Google search as well on Orcas and Newfoundland. Here was my first hit:
http://www.wildlands.com/wildlife_reports/wildlife_report_2.html
Here's another:
http://www.newfoundlandwhales.net/orcawhale.htm
Cheers from lovely St. John's,
Sean

This isn't based on a true story. I live in the town that this movie was filmed (Petty Harbour). There are no Orca whales in Newfoundlands waters.

Then explain why an army of orcas wanted to eat Frodo's legs

I dunno what happened here but +100 stitches is a lot of stitches. Shamu is clearly annoyed with that chick, and refuses to let her get out of the water:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuqhKwG83TY
Bad Shamu!

yea right go to youtube.com and look up killer whale attacks 0.0

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HA! You should really do some research before you go posting things that absurd. Orcas are intelligent mammals that protect there young fiercly, have a sense of community and have NEVER killed a human in the wild, at least not in some toothy, Jaws-like attack. Yes, accidents happen, but think about it. Almost any large predator will kill a human if provoked or starved. Orcas, however, as pointed out in other posts, are too intelligent for that sort of nonsense.