Customer Reviews

Deep Water

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a beautiful and completely compelling film; the story of the last voyage of Donald Crowhurst, a completely batty amateur of the finest British tradition, a man with a young family and a struggling business who becomes inexplicably fixated on an utterly forlorn quest to win the 1968 Sunday Times solo, non-stop round-the-world-yacht race.

Archive footage reveals that from the earliest stage Crowhurst, a tubby, cardigan-wearing thirty-seven-year-old inventor, had no idea what he was taking on (but at least he was dressed for it: in a tie and slacks as he set off on the race!), what he was doing, or how his plan had a hope of success, yet bizarrely he was financed, filmed, represented by people who ought to have known better, and most strangely of all allowed, even out of his garden shed, by his wife, a woman revealed by the documentary to be otherwise a sober, sensible, reflective and thoughful woman. One of many tragedies catalogued was that no-one had the wherewithal or gumption to tell this poor chap - in no sense one of life's winners, and certainly not the sort to be up for a round-the-world solo yacht journey - not to be such a blazing fool.

Yet, like a Greek tragedy, plot developments thereafter pile inevitably on, compelling the poor man on when even he had twigged it was sheer madness: the oppressive terms of his financing, residual pride, his own ill-considered decisions to misreport his positions and, in the final strait, the sheer bad luck to have a couple of his competitors unexpectedly sink or go postal on him when all he needed them to do was simply complete the course ahead of him and allow him to finish in quiet, plucky British ignominy. Were it not for any of these, Donald Crowhurst might still have his unspectacular life, and still be running a failing electronics business, to this day.

But as it is, events conspired to a different course, and Crowhurst's elegaic and articulate descent into the abyss is capitvatingly rendered in this film, from logs, recordings and films he made en route, and in which he is portrayed without apparent exaggeration as a tragic hero, doomed by the course of this actions and the irresistable currents of human and physical nature, to a sad end.

Thoroughly recommended.

Olly Buxton

In 1968 the Sunday Times of London sponsored a race to see who could circumnavigate the globe --solo and without stopping. Prizes were offered for the one who finished first and the one who finished fastest. Nine sailors entered the race, but this documentary film focuses on three contestants in particular-- Robin Knox-Johnston, who finished first by averaging 92 miles a day for 312 days (28,704 miles) and who appears in the film; the Frenchman Bernard Moitessier, who turned around just before finishing, forsaking fame and fortune for the isolation of the sea, and sailed an additional 10,000 miles to Tahiti (his book The Long Way tells his story); and then the amateur sailor and eccentric Donald Crowhurst who never should have entered the race under any circumstances. His bizarre story forms the real narrative of this film. It's difficult to say more without spoiling this film, but you can be sure that it's more of an exploration of the deep waters of the human psyche than an adventure tale. Interviews with family members and friends; archival film footage; news reels; diaries, audio tapes, 16mm film and ship logs by the sailors; and still photos lend authenticity to the pathos of this deeply human story. Two of the film's producers were John Smithson and Paul Trijbits who made Touching the Void.

"Deep Water" tells the strange story of Donald Crowhurst, an Englishman of limited sailing experience who was one of 9 men to take up the challenge issued by the Sunday Times in 1968: A non-stop single-handed boat race around the globe. There were doubts as to whether boat or human could withstand such an arduous, isolated journey. The first person to do it would win a Golden Globe. The fastest would win £5,000. Crowhurst was a struggling small businessman with a family who had never found the success he wanted from life. The opportunity for fame and prize money appealed to him. To get a sponsor to pay for his boat, Crowhurst staked all he had, including his house, on completing at least half of the race -a decision that would have bizarre and catastrophic consequences.

Crowhurst set sail in the 40-foot trimaran "Teignmouth Electron" on the date of the race deadline, October 31, 1968. The story of his voyage, his predicament, and surprising decisions is told through old 16mm movies taken on board the boat and interviews with son Simon and wife Clare Crowhurst, friend Ron Winspear, journalist Donald Kerr, and Ted Hynds, who was deputy to Crowhurst's dodgy press agent Rodney Hallworth. Competitors Robin Knox-Johnston and Bernard Moitessier provide an insider's perspective on the race, Moitessier in the form of films and logs, since he is deceased. Francoise Moitessier shares her husband's experience and her own. Along with Tilda Swinton's narration, they paint a compelling picture of this groundbreaking 10-month endurance test.

This is one of those rare documentaries that might suffer from spoilers, so I'll be vague. "Deep Water" superbly recreates Crowhurst's grave dilemma and his character which obliged him to cope as he did. It's fundamentally sympathetic to Crowhurst, more than I would have been, perhaps because those who knew him and were interviewed are understandably fond of the man. The filmmakers tactfully avoid saying that Crowhurst gambled the roof over his children's heads to satisfy his ego, and thereby became his own undoing. It also doesn't mention an obvious alternative which, in the end, Crowhurst failed to see. But between those two points, "Deep Water" is a penetrating and gripping account of a man trapped, almost literally, between the devil and the deep blue sea.

The DVD (IFC 2007): There are 4 featurettes and a theatrical trailer (2 min). "The Sailors' Stories" are text and interviews about the contestants. Alex Garozzo, Donald Crowhurst, Loick Fougeron, and John Ridgeway have brief text bios. Very worthwhile are interviews with Chay Blyth (5 min), Bill Leslie King (6 min), Robin Knox-Johnson (10 min) and with the widows of Bernard Moitessier (6 min) and Nigel Tetley (7 min). "The Journalists' Story" (11 min) recounts how the Sunday Times conceived of and reported the boat race, creating the story, not just reporting it, through interviews with journalists Murray Sayle and Philip Norman, editor Harold Evans, et al. "The Family's Story" (7 min) interviews wife Clare and 2 of the Crowhurst children about how they came to understand their father's actions. "The Abandoned Boat" uses some photos of the Teignmouth Electron to present 11 of Donald's audio recordings and some of his notes and diagrams. Subtitles are available for the film in English SDH and Spanish.

If you're a fan of Tomalin and Hall's The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst be aware that this documentary is a different sea tale altogether. Tomalin and Hall's book is a psychological portrait of a small town intellectual desperate for recognition and success. Deep Water, on the other hand, emphasizes Crowhurst's economic plight portraying him more flatteringly as a kind of dreamy anti-hero. Readers of the Tomalin book will like the tidbits of old film footage but may find Crowhurst's tale constrained by the nature of the film medium and the editorial accommodations likely made for family members who are interviewed throughout.

To say this is an amazing documentary does not do it justice. As another reviewer stated, "Truth really is stranger than fiction" and that applies here. I am surprised that this story isn't more well known.

I decided to watch this only because I suspected there would be some beautiful ocean shots. Which there were. But the story is so mind-boggling, I found myself watching with my mouth open for large portions of it. Jaw dropping indeed.

It is so easy to pronounce judgement on people who take risks like this, and make poor decisions later. But you truly almost never know what is going on in another's head. Brains are funny things.

I highly recommend this. You will not be disappointed.

1968. In the pre-GPS era, Briton Francis Chichester becomes the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, after a brief stop in Australia for repairs. His achievement inspires the London `Times' newspaper to sponsor a round-the-world yacht race which will challenge the world's best yachtsmen to go one better; to sail single-handedly around the world without stopping, and without assistance from any third party. Total Solitude for anything up to a year.

Using Chichester's achievement as a preface, "Deep Water" chronicles the pre-race excitement and preparations, profiles the nine men who accept the challenge, then tells the story of the race itself, all the way to its haunting conclusion and inspiring legacy. Although its principal focus is on Donald Crowhurst, the `dark horse' among a field of experienced and famous yachtsmen, the whole 90-minute story is one of risk, adventure, solitude, shipwreck, survival, deception, triumph, failure, eccentricity, descent into madness, and - tragically - crushing bereavement. To say any more would spoil the suspense; suffice it only to add that not all of the nine men finished, and not all survived.

Interviews with surviving personalities (including family members) combined with clips of archived footage and an articulate narrative make this a very well-coordinated documentary, in fact, now the best I have ever seen. I've watched it four times in the last year, and find it's one of those rare tales that reveals something new each time. Only this last time, for instance, it struck me that - surprisingly - not a single American entered the race; all the contestants were Europeans (actually British and French), almost as though they were the last in that great line of continental adventurers in the tradition of Columbus, DaGama, Drake, Magellan, Tasman, Cook, and others. Then it occurred to me that in 1968-69, these last great adventurers from the Old World were setting out one last time to sail around it, just as the first adventurers from the New World were setting out away from it, toward the moon. With each viewing, though, I found myself haunted by man's inner heart of darkness, about which so much is disturbingly revealed in this gripping tale. The last 10-15 minutes are particularly moving, perhaps even disturbing.

I'm just over 50, but I still wonder that in my lifetime we have seen the transition from self-dependence (using a sextant and knowing the stars), to the global inter-connectivity of GPS, weather radar, and advanced communications which now make such voyages almost unadventurous. I couldn't help feeling that these men had more in common with those heroes of centuries ago, than with the more recent mariners of today, who are their actual contemporaries.

Among the bonus features are logs and film recovered from one sad, derelict vessel of a sailor who didn't make it, and recent short interviews with a real-life cast of characters from what will soon be a forgotten world. There are references to that old classic Anglo-French rivalry, and we see the eccentricities of a very special group of larger-than-life heroes (look for the swashbuckling Scotsman who later became the first person to sail solo around the world in the wrong direction, not to mention the gallant Frenchman who abandoned fame and fortune to achieve self-fulfillment - right out of Saint-Exupery!). I did find, however, that at least one of the biographies in the bonus features section stopped short for reasons that are not clear; for the full and ultimately tragic story of Nigel Tetley, I recommend you look him up on Wikipedia.

Never mind if you're not a sailor - I'm not; this is about so much more than life on the high seas and the wild oceans. There's something in this for everyone, but especially those who want their heroes not to be country-men, or company-men, or men of any kind of institution, but men's men; individualists in the classic sense, whose strengths derive from something deep within.

This story continues to grow on me, and - significantly - on all those to whom I have recommended it. To explain in full why this documentary is so compelling and so good would spoil the show. So trust me far enough to spend $4 (used) for what in my humble opinion is the best documentary ever made. I am certain you will not regret it.

In the late-1960s an English weekend sailor named Donald Crowhurst felt that he was - in some ways - imprisoned by life. In his mid-thirties, Crowhurst had a wife, four young children, and a reasonably-successful career as an engineer. But Crowhurst sought something else and he gradually became obsessed with joining a race to become the first person to sail around the world, solo, without stopping.

Crowhurst eventually joined the 1968 race - against eight more-experienced sailors. Prior to the race, the English press championed underdog Crowhurst. But Crowhurst had a difficult time finding a seaworthy vessel and he faced financial ruin if he backed out. Eventually, at the last possible moment, Crowhurst set sail from England.

Deep Water is the true story of how one bad decision can often lead us to make even worse decisions later. For most viewers, Crowhurst will be an ambivalent figure. On the one hand, he had the courage to chase his dreams. On the other, he ignored the potential harm that his choices could have for those who loved him.

The film contains some amazing, beautiful shots of the oceans. The viewers begin to understand the sea's power - and its indifference to our fates. Also, in recounting the race, Deep Water reveals what it is like to sail in the open ocean, alone, for months on end. Finally, there are some good descriptions of the eight competitors in the race - many of whom are fascinating in their own right. (I would like to see an update of what happened to the people in the film after the race was over).

Deep Water reminds us that dreams aren't free. Conventional wisdom tells us that we should take more chances - after all, we typically regret the chances that we don't take more than those that we do take. But at what point do the costs become too high? The film doesn't have the answer, but it does force the viewer to consider these questions while also recounting some interesting events. I recommend Deep Water.

I've now watched the DVD no less than 15 times and the story still intrigues me. It was produced with much attention to detail and effort. Many of the principals of the story are interviewed and tell their parts of the story with interesting perspectives . It is not only a story for sailors, but for anyone who is interested in isolation and the hell it can play with the human physche. My sincere sympathy and gratitude to the Crowhurst family for having the courage to share this emotional story with such honesty.

The Bottom Line:

A fascinating and exciting documentary that starts out like Touching the Void and finishes like Apocalypse Now, Deep Water makes occasional errors in the telling of Donald Crowhurst's story (the narration sometimes gives misleading impressions, for example) but you're unlikely to come away from the film unmoved.

This is a most astounding documentary about the first solo sailing race around the world, focused largely on one of the participants, from a psychological perspective. It addresses the most profound questions of human existence. Watching it left me in stunned silence. The special features include detailed information about all the participants, journalists, and family members. After watching this 5-star movie, the special features are so good that I'd rate them by themselves as a 4-star movie, they are that good. Bravo! Outstanding.