Fact is stranger than fiction, they say, and The Deep is an example you won’t forget.
Gulli (Olafur Dari Olafsson) is an Icelandic fisherman, the giant of a man whose size intimidates and yet whose heart is soft.
After an accident at sea he finds himself in the freezing, wind-lashed Atlantic, miles from land. He should have died of hypothermia after 30 minutes, but stays in the water for six hours, employing an awkward breast stroke and talking to seagulls before being washed up on rocks beneath a glowering cliff face in semi-darkness.
The director uses flashbacks and home visits to ease the tension of the swim, but remains as honest as possible to the extent where Olafsson’s safety becomes as nerve jangling as Gulli’s.