A well-crafted drama
The Mercy (M)
102 mins ★★★★
‘‘It’s a story of derring do waiting to be told,’’ Rodney Hallworth (David Thewlis) enthuses. Unlike many, the reporter-turned-press-agent is convinced that Teignmouth amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst’s (Colin Firth) audacious bid to compete in the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race is a fabulous idea.
He’s even managed to persuade sponsors to back Crowhurst’s bid to build his own trimaran for the event, the Electron Utilisation founder convinced that a custom built boat could provide an opportunity to showcase his and other people’s wares as he takes his ‘‘caravan of the sea’’ around the world. But while supportive of Crowhurst, friendly and family are a little more wary of losing him for at least six months.
‘‘Everyone who enters should have their head examined,’’ worries one mate, while another points out that Crowhurst has never been ‘‘farther than Falmouth’’.
And when the delays and design issues start to mount, Crowhurst himself beings to doubt his chances. Problem his, the deals he has made mean he has literally got his house on the line.
He’s also keen to make his wife Clare (Rachel Weisz) and children proud of him ‘‘for doing what no other man in the country would even contemplate’’. However, starting months behind the other sailors (who include a former submarine commander and a transAtlantic rower), the isolation and frustration begin to take their toll. As the days tick by, Crowhurst begins to resort to increasingly desperate and duplicitous measures just in order to keep appearances and his spirits up.
Best known for his biopic of Stephen Hawking (The Theory of Everything) and documentary on Philippe Petit (Man on Wire), director James Marsh here crafts another compelling tale of a man driven to achieve a goal.
And, surprisingly for a movie ostensibly about one man’s voyage, The Mercy boasts two terrific performances. Firth (Kingsman), despite looking a little older than Crowhurst’s 35, does a fabulous job of conveying the increasing fraughtness and mental fatigue of a man seriously out of his depth. Impressively though, he’s equally matched by Weisz (The Light Between Oceans), who almost steals the whole shebang as the woman left to deal with the fallout of Crowhurst’s adventure. One speech towards the end has to go down as one of the most rousing and tear-inducing in recent cinematic memory.
Throw in some clever use of sound and a great supporting cast that includes Thewlis and Ken Stott and The Mercy is a dramatic voyage well worth experiencing. – James Croot