This is the big-budget, big-name companion to ‘Crowhurst’ which was released in the same year, and I watched the following week. The Mercy focusses much more on the pressures Donald was under in the lead up to his departure, and much less on the voyage itself. I felt that Colin Firth did a great job of showing how trapped Donald felt by the circumstances of the race, and yet how his own pride and need to keep his promises over-rode his deep misgivings about setting sail. The rest of the voyage has doom hanging over it.
The sounds of the hull creaking, the sea slapping gently against it, and even a pencil rolling back and forth on the table were used very effectively to set an atmosphere, but ultimately I felt that Crowhurst did a better job of getting across the terrifying isolation he must have felt.
