«Starting today, Russian cinemas are showing the film» (The Mercy) about the tragic story of amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst' s participation in the first solo circumnavigation of the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1969. The lead role in the biopic is played by Colin Firth.
Onlookers see how the main character walks through the rigours of a solitary voyage on a yacht, experiencing seasickness, the gruelling calm of the high seas and the furious heat of the roaring forties.
Perhaps this was the reason for postponing the release of the film to a later date.
Nevertheless, the picture is not so much about the external struggle (with a naughty boat and the elements) as it is about the internal struggle: this is the story of how loneliness and isolation gradually drive a man mad.
The tragedy of Donald Crowhurst's life is hard to sugarcoat. A businessman on the verge of financial collapse, he grasps the regatta as a straw that could solve his problems. But his improved trimaran «Teignmouth Electron» constantly fails him, and Crowhurst unexpectedly finds himself at the back of the fleet. In a desperate attempt to hide the real situation, he gives the organizers false coordinates and winds up with a fake ship's log, thus driving himself into a stalemate where winning is basically impossible. Crowhurst's boat is found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. The yachtsman's diaries indicate that he committed suicide.
