For good reason, the opening moments of this film is the chilling clip from JAWS, with the character of "Quint" giving a brief history of the horrors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during WWII, and the frenzied shark attacks that the survivors endured. Both with re-enacted testaments, and comments from the few living survivors, there isn't much more one would need to know after watching OCEAN OF FEAR. It is simply chilling, and should be of major interest to shark fans and WWII historians. Outstanding film! Every aspect of this terrible tragedy is explored, and it was an incident that begged to be explored more completely. There was a fictional account of the incident made in 1991, MISSION OF THE SHARK, starring Stacey Keach and Richard Thomas, but this is the film you want to see!
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Trampyre4 August 2007
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We all know the basic story here because almost everyone reading this will have seen Jaws and, probably, been drawn to this film for that reason. I do not actually know if I thought the shark attack story in Jaws was real or fictional but I think I knew it was based on real events. Anyway, this film quickly makes reference to Jaws but wisely dwells it on for all of a second before it moves on to focus on the real events after all this is a film about the real thing, not about how the real thing fitted into a popular film.
The decision has been made to play this as a docu-drama, which at times can mean terribly hammy performances that take away from the real people by giving the events an air of stiffness and an unreal feel. Fortunately here this aspect is really well done. The main dialogue delivery occurs in the flat tones of a courtroom so the lack of emotion or depth is not too much of a problem. Out at sea the actors are convincing because of how well shot and realistic it is. I have no idea how they shot this or where but it looked convincing throughout. The narration does the rest of the work and the matter-of-fact discussion of events helped engage me because I was just constantly wondering how anyone survived this whether it be the sharks, the lack of food/water or just the sheer mental anguish caused by the struggle to survive (or rather to keep wanting to want to survive).
The film uses experts and testimony from the survivors well. Sure it could have used the survivors more but the way they cut it worked better in keeping the balance between documentary and the dramatic recreation sequences. The balance does work well then and overall this film informs the viewer while also recreating events in such a way that it avoids ham or melodrama. It is matter-of-factly and all the more engaging for me. An engaging film that does well with the structure and material. -
jasonjokermaloney15 August 2007The minute i saw the commercial i immediately wanted to see this its one of those things that just draws you in to it. I watched it from begging to end and recorded it on my DVR and still watch it. You will be in tears at one point in this movie, while you're watching it you think "My God people actually went through this." The documentary part is somewhat disguised as actually testimonies from the survivors of the Indianpolis along with some actually footage of the rescues. The soldiers also relate there past at one point where one of them tells a story about his father giving him permission to join and that he was signing his death sentence. If shark week brought us this on the first day i can't wait to see what the have in-store for us next year. 10/10
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hasnoform29 June 2012Yet another marvellous drama-doc by Brook Lapping Productions. An intensely powerful piece, well-acted and directed with great flair and awareness of the dramatic. Stunning underwater photography of these beautiful creatures which are the stars of Shark Week. Incredible to see how some of a group of human beings were able to endure such pain and fear and hardship and come out alive. Adds fascinating insight into Robert Vaughan's speech from Jaws about being torpedoes by the Japanese. The Discovery Channel is a host to a myriad of gems such as documentary-dramas like these. National Geographic manage quite a mixture of quality shows too.