DEEP WATER

(2006)

The 1968–’69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was notable for many things, not least that it was the first round-the-world yacht race. Of nine starters, only one finished. Another, a likely winner, decided that competition was not for him and carried on sailing on a new course, for a total of 10 months at sea and another two-thirds of a circumnavigation. Then there was Donald Crowhurst. If the name is not familiar, do not Google it and instead track down Deep Water.

Crowhurst’s story deserves to be called “astonishing” (a biopic, The Mercy, starring Colin Firth is due in autumn) and this film tells it superbly: part biography, part mystery, part underdog tale. A brilliant example of the parallel world where fact trumps fiction on film.