Film Review: The Mercy

Colin Firth – a very British actor that plays very British characters. But the story of Donald Crowhurst is a little darker than his usual film appearances. It’s better going into this film without knowing the real story of the Crowhurst family, so if you plan on seeing it, make sure you’re as oblivious as you can be.

The film is based around a typically happy working class British family. The father, Donald, is a keen sailor and since coming home from the war, he’s dedicated his life to being a salesman, but the mechanisms he’s created just aren’t selling so well. He’s essentially having a mid-life crisis, feeling like he hasn’t done anything worthwhile – even though he has what seems to be a wonderfully happy family. So, when the opportunity arrises to complete the Sunday Times Golden Globe race in 1968, he jumps at the chance (despite being significantly less experienced than the other competitors).

As you’d imagine, Donald is completely out of his comfort zone, and with a boat that wasn’t fully ready to sail and a contract laying his and his family’s lives on the line if he doesn’t finish the race, he’s got himself into a sticky situation. He underestimated the effort, skill and experience it would take to sail around the world without stopping once, and before he’s even left the continent, he’s spinning a web of lies.

Firth proves that he’s not as mundane as one may have previously thought, with a performance that starts off rather flat, but ends up giving you an insight into what madness truly looks like. His story is one of desperation, but he essentially isn’t the victim. The real victims are his family who suffer the whole time he’s out at sea.

Rachel Weisz plays Donald’s wife, Clare Crowhurst. As was known to be the norm back in the 1960s, she was left to look after the kids and the family while the man goes off on a long working trip. It’s unfortunately perhaps not the right time to be bringing a story to life on the main screen that follows a family in which a woman waits at home for her husband to come back, meanwhile doing all the chores and looking after the kids. With the current attitudes of society changing towards feminism, and women finding their voice, this certainly isn’t an empowering film. However, Rachel’s performance as a mother clinging on to any kind of hope – even when she knows something isn’t right – just to protect her family is both heart-warming and heart-breaking at the same time.

The story is one of sadness, misguided hope and ultimately the descent into madness, but it finishes in a way that makes you feel unsure and uncomfortable. Donald comes across as a loving family man, but by the end of the film, you find yourself questioning just how loving he really was. The film shows how one man’s quest to be important in this huge world can screw over everything good he had in life. Ultimately, he lost a life that most people can only dream of, in order to get some recognition in a sport that he was only amateur.

Firth effectively brings a darkness to a story that begins with such happiness. It’s probably one of his best performances yet, but by no means will you like the character. Rachel plays a mother who’s been put in an unthinkably sad and desperate situation. This is the character you warm to, the character you follow, and the character you root for. In a world full of films celebrating working men, it’s refreshing to see the hardships of what some may call a life as a housewife.

The Mercy is screening at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 22 February

Trailer