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Disturbing, unnerving and wire-to-wire involving, "Deep Water" is the story of a dream that got so wildly out of hand that it ensnared the dreamer in an intricate trap of his own devising.
Nominally a story centered on the participants in an especially daunting and arduous nautical race, this gripping British documentary takes us daringly close to a man who ended up over his head in ways he never imagined.
As directed by Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell (and produced by the man who brought you "Touching the Void"), "Deep Water" joins a tale of stirring, hair-raising adventure with issues of life, death and morality presented in the starkest terms. Using all the tools at a filmmaker's disposal, this is one of those stories that couldn't possibly be invented, that has the jaw-dropping twists and reverses only reality can provide. If you want to know why documentaries are increasingly capturing audiences' imaginations, this is a good place to start.
"Deep Water" itself starts in 1967, when a man named Francis Chichester electrifies Britain by sailing alone around the world, taking nine months to go 33,000 miles, punctuated only by a stop in Australia for refitting.
Looking for the next challenge, the Sunday Times newspaper sponsors what is billed as the greatest endurance test of all time, a single-handed...