THE GOOD LEVIATHAN

A weird, un-charming, anti-ecological fable. The Gargantua, a French supertanker powered by a nuclear reactor, is derisively nicknamed ""Leviathan"" by all those who loathe and fear it, like fishermen and ecologists; on her very first shakedown cruise she returns to port only to find herself overrun by small-crafters bent on boarding and sabotaging her. Hoses are turned on the protesters, whose leader, a lame fanatic named the Cripple, suddenly--at the touch of the ship's water--stands up straight and tall. A miracle! Word quickly gets around, and the reviled ship exchanges images overnight to become a kind of floating Lourdes. A thermal spa is build dockside for the thousands of pilgrims. More cures, more fussy ecologists foiled--and the climax, when a Cousteau-like ecology ship foundering in rough seas begs the Gargantua to dump some of its oil and thus pacify the threatening waves, is anything but subtle. Texaco and Con Ed might want to give this one out as Christmas presents, but otherwise it will sink without a trace.