Never Give Up

1700 nautical miles from the Sumatra straits.We see an abstract image of an object floating in water. We hear our man speaking, explaining that he has tried his best under the circumstances, but now all is lost except for soul and body.8 days earlier.Our man wakes up to find his sailboat taking on water, drowning his communications system. He goes out on deck to see the boat has hit a detached shipping container filled with sneakers, leaving a yard-long hole in his high starboard side.He ties an anchor to the container to pull it away from his boat, leaving the hole more exposed.He makes up fiberglass to start patching the hole, and starts pumping out the water below deck. That night he sleeps in a hammock.The next day: he tries to clean out his radio and phone with fresh water, then dries them on deck. He keeps pumping out more water.The next day: his radio does not work well enough for him to get out SOS call. He has a couple stiff drinks, then enjoys washing off in a brief rain. He makes a pasta dinner, reads a book, and goes to sleep.The next day: he hoists himself up the mast in a bosuns chair, and reconnects the radio wire. He sees a storm coming in, so he packs things away, shaves his face, and puts on a wet suit to pilot the boat. He pulls out a storm jib and in the process of connecting it, he gets blown overboard, but manages to hang on and get back on board.He falls in exhaustion under deck, then vomits. All of a sudden, the boat completely capsizes, tossing our man and the boat's objects around the hull. The boat then slowly rights itself.He goes up on deck, and then a large wave capsizes the boat again and knocks him in the water. He again manages to get back on board, only to notice his mast has snapped, so he cuts it loose.Back under deck, a jolt sends his head into the mast and knocks him unconscious.He wakes up with water filling the hull. He then pulls a life raft to up to the deck, and throws it into the water to inflate itself. Then he jumps in and zips it closed.The next day: he awakens in the raft, which is tethered to the boat that is now is half-submerged. He gets on to the boat to grab some canned food and fresh water in the hull. He is about to leave but goes back for a box. He then bandages his forehead, until he senses that the boat is going under. He gets out and watches the Virginia Jean sink.Back on the raft, he opens the box, which contains a sextant and a card. He tosses the card aside without reading it. He then tries using the sextant and navigational maps.He later wakes up sleeping in water, and then bails it out. Another storm moves in. From his readings, he is heading north by northwest, toward a shipping zone he sees on the map.The storm capsizes his raft. He is tossed overboard but pulls the raft back over. Back inside, surrounded by wind, rain, and water, he closes his eyes and covers his ears.The next day: he keeps bailing water out of the raft. He finds that his jug of drinking water has been infested by seawater, after which he gets emotional and yells out, "Fuck!" He has a thought: he cuts open the water jug and uses a plastic bag to make a freshwater still.He maps out that he is in the shipping lane now. He starts approaching a cargo ship, then lights a flare; he waves and yells for help, but the ship moves on by.The next day: our man is exposed to the elements, becoming dehydrated and numb. He finally gets a tug on his fishing line, but just as he is about to pull in a fish, a shark eats it at the surface. Many sharks swim under his raft.He wakes up to find another cargo ship passing by closely. This time he sets two flares off into air, but the ship keeps going.The next day: he charts that he has now moved north out of the shipping lane. He writes in a journal, rips out the page, places it in a jar, and with some hesitation, he tosses it into the water.That night, he sees a light in distance. He rips up pieces of paper to make a fire in the empty water jug, but the fire spreads and consumes the raft.Our man jumps overboard. Treading water, he looks up to the heavens, then lets himself sink, watching the raft burning on the surface above him. As he descends, he sees another boat arriving at the raft above.Our man swims up to the surface, and a hand reaches down to save him.

Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure

Directed by: J.C. Chandor

Starring: Robert Redford (Our Man)

Screenplay: J.C. Chandor

Country: USA

Year: 2013

Score: 69 %