Deep Water

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In 1969, Donald Crowhurst, a former engineer whose bravado outweighed his sailing expertise, entered a London Times-sponsored yacht race around the world. This thrilling documentary incorporates actual footage of the race to depict the harrowing conditions Crowhurst faced. Refusing to turn back even as his homemade boat took on water, he depended on his ingenuity to survive the dangers of the sea and the threat of insanity.
Netflix Rating: 3.5
Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh 96%: Consensus: Equal parts mystery and biography, Deep Water is both an engrossing documentary and an affecting treatise on human folly and obsession.
Fresh: 51 Rotten: 2 Rotten Tomatoes page
Top Rotten Tomatoes Critics: The pic should suck even landlubbers into a whirlpool of gripping adventure, overblown ambitions and sheer human folly. full review

Deborah Young, Variety

The details just get stranger and stranger. full review

Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail

As directed by Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell, the movie breezes along at a highly watchable clip, thanks to fluid, affecting intercutting of archival, black-and-white footage and present-day interviews. full review

Desson Thomson, Washington Post

For this gripping and amazing documentary, such truth emerges not just from the facts, but also the poetry of men who redefine themselves in a risky race on small sailboats. full review

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle

Deep Water is a stunning documentary that not only beautifully elucidates a nearly forgotten incident but touches on crucial themes involving isolation, sanity, self-worth, impossible dreams, the nature of heroism and limits of human endurance.

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

One of this year's better studies of the human soul. full review

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

Osmond and Rothwell do a commendable job of mining a rich archive of material. full review

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

Osmond and Rothwell's depiction of his unraveling is an exquisitely structured drama. full review

Joshua Katzman, Chicago Reader

To reveal Crowhurst's decision would be to spoil a stunning tale. Deep Water is not itself comparably stunning. full review

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe

Deep Water confirms all the mythical terrors that lurk in our dreams of the sea, and the best person to watch it with would be Melville. full review

Anthony Lane, New Yorker

A fascinating documentary about the first single-handed around-the-world sailing race, begins like a Boy's Own adventure tale but ends up more akin to tragedy. full review

Rachel Saltz, New York Times

Deep Water is a documentary, but it's also one part adventure film, one part Greek tragedy, and one part meditation on the role of the 'hero' in modern society. full review

James Berardinelli, ReelViews

An enthralling documentary about an Englishman named Donald Crowhurst who, in 1968, set off on a solitary, nonstop circumnavigation of the globe. full review

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

A spooky, moving doc that chronicles the first solo attempt to circle the world by boat. full review

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

His story is a footnote in sailing history, to be sure, but a fascinating one. full review

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

Given that the tedium of months on the open seas could and did drive a man insane, co-directors Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell have done a commendable job of making Deep Water... well, not boring. full review

Julia Wallace, Village Voice

Remarkable. full review

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

full review by Philip Marchand, Toronto Star