rowmorg Review of Turning Tide

Turning Tide (2013)

Not much plot, but thrillingly shot aboard a competition boat

[6/10 · 23 November 2014]

I have no idea whether this film is based on a true story or not. The almost complete absence of plot would suggest it was. The hero (Francois Cluzet) sets out on a single-handed round-the-world race, and his sailboat gets hit by flotsam, which breaks the steering mechanism. He pulls in to the Canaries for repairs, and finds a few days later that a 16 year-old boy has stowed away on board. He is hopping mad, shouting that his trip has to be single-handed or he's done for. The days go by, and he rescues a fellow (female) competitor who is kind to the boy and tells Francois to look after him as she leaves to get into a rescue launch. Cluzet evidently takes this to heart, because he rescues the boy after he escapes in the rescue dinghy, and then won't hand him over to the boat's injured owner (for whom he is standing in) off the Azores. Eventually, he is escorted by scores of vessels into the French harbour and sails deliberately straight past the victory buoys, thereby disqualifying himself. A most unsatisfactory ending that completely fails to explain how this film was a hit in French cinemas. I guess the round-the-world sailing race has a much bigger public in that country. But it doesn't explain their lousy taste in adventure movies. No big recommendation here.