I watched the movie last night, and was tempted to give it an 8 star: great photography, great acting (mostly in the most difficult setting of a real ocean!) and gripping story (at least for me who'd not seen the German movie this is allegedly a remake).
All characters are easy on the eye, young and athletic, but not one is open enough for me like him or her. They're all friends, or they're supposed to be, to enjoy a week-end of sun and ocean aboard a yacht that belongs to the rich one in the group. The world is theirs - at least for the week-end! The yacht has plenty of beer and wine in the freezer for Daniel's 20th birthday. The sun is great. This ocean, just off Madeira Island, is so blue and warm!
In part to escape bickering with each other, some jump overboard and start swimming. Daniel, the owner, and former lover of Ana (the mother occupied with her one-year baby), attempts to grab her, and they fall overboard. Since his libido obscured his mind, he had forgotten to extend the ladder for people to get on board from the sea... Are they lost? Yes! They're lost because they're alone as a group, and each one is too selfish to act rationally under the dire circumstances. One by one, they die - in different manners, what we're told gently, by images and dialogue.
Without the last minute, the film would be a most enjoyable disaster movie. Many reviewers batter the last scene, but in my view, for the wrong reason. Daniel finally thinks of a way to serve as a ladder to Ana to get aboard. She does, she presses a button and an intermittent red light is seen briefly to her back. Her priority is to hug her baby, her second priority is to wrap herself in a blanket. If that's not weird enough, she disrobes again, and jumps overboard shouting Daniel's name - who's not answering back. She did not throw the ladder down to come back up - because, in my view, she was comfiting suicide like others had done before her, in different manners.
So, until here, the movie is good, and well crafted, though dark as hell. Black as the screen frames that precede the last minute.
Ana in a summer frock is holding her baby on the deck, and waving to a fisherman that appears with the early morning.
A producer or a distributor imposed a Hollywood ending where the whole concept of the movie does not allow for it.
After reading other comments this morning, and decided to balance my rating, to honor the beautiful things (and girls!...) in the movie.
All characters are easy on the eye, young and athletic, but not one is open enough for me like him or her. They're all friends, or they're supposed to be, to enjoy a week-end of sun and ocean aboard a yacht that belongs to the rich one in the group. The world is theirs - at least for the week-end! The yacht has plenty of beer and wine in the freezer for Daniel's 20th birthday. The sun is great. This ocean, just off Madeira Island, is so blue and warm!
In part to escape bickering with each other, some jump overboard and start swimming. Daniel, the owner, and former lover of Ana (the mother occupied with her one-year baby), attempts to grab her, and they fall overboard. Since his libido obscured his mind, he had forgotten to extend the ladder for people to get on board from the sea... Are they lost? Yes! They're lost because they're alone as a group, and each one is too selfish to act rationally under the dire circumstances. One by one, they die - in different manners, what we're told gently, by images and dialogue.
Without the last minute, the film would be a most enjoyable disaster movie. Many reviewers batter the last scene, but in my view, for the wrong reason. Daniel finally thinks of a way to serve as a ladder to Ana to get aboard. She does, she presses a button and an intermittent red light is seen briefly to her back. Her priority is to hug her baby, her second priority is to wrap herself in a blanket. If that's not weird enough, she disrobes again, and jumps overboard shouting Daniel's name - who's not answering back. She did not throw the ladder down to come back up - because, in my view, she was comfiting suicide like others had done before her, in different manners.
So, until here, the movie is good, and well crafted, though dark as hell. Black as the screen frames that precede the last minute.
Ana in a summer frock is holding her baby on the deck, and waving to a fisherman that appears with the early morning.
A producer or a distributor imposed a Hollywood ending where the whole concept of the movie does not allow for it.
After reading other comments this morning, and decided to balance my rating, to honor the beautiful things (and girls!...) in the movie.