The Disappeared

That this movie was a truly athletic event to make is obvious in every frame. Classic Maritimer personalities, a storyline that manages to be both authentic and meaningful at the same time, this is Canadian filmmaking at its best.

You could watch The Disappeared just for the cinematography, which proves that skill and vision can trump technological bells and whistles if you insist. The supporting features describe how the director got her shots by using good old-fashioned human determination, rather than helicopters and CGI, and the results justify the effort.

I come from seafaring people myself; this movie spoke to me.

(2012) The Disappeared DRAMA

Co-written and directed by Shandi Mitchell with the entire movie taking place on a couple of row boats with paddles, three men on each boat tied to one another as viewers have to endure a whole hour and an a half of them arguing without a compass, and no food rationing as they're struggling to be found. Boring as heck, and to be honest, left myself with more questions than answers, such as the time it happened. And how long.

If you are talking about supposedly long term fisherman who are supposed to have experience, what viewers witness happens exactly the opposite who can be defined as annoyingly incompetent. There's a much superior movie called "Lifeboat" by Hitchcock check that movie instead.

First off - This is a film that you should see. If you live in Toronto, it looks like it's coming out in theatres on November 1st at the Carlton Cinema.

I had a film in the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in France, and while there I was invited to come and see The Disappeared. I didn't know anything about the film going in, and I want anyone reading here to have the same experience, so I won't give anything away about the plot other than what is obvious from the poster :) 6 men, shipwrecked hundreds of miles from land in the North Atlantic, and trying to survive in 2 lifeboats on dwindling rations.

The power of this film is in its subtleties. Each of the 6 men have their own lives, hopes, and demons that they bring into the lifeboats. Some of those are in harmony with those of the other men...and some are not. Because the characters (and the camera) are bound to the lifeboats and the lifeboats alone, the film is persistently intense and focused. The imagery alone is haunting enough, but as time passes and the tension of the film increases, it becomes riveting. You want to look away, but you can't. By the end of the film, you feel as though you are in the boat with them.

Go see it!

Bad writing, acting and directing. My 5yr old could make this movie.

The writer and director of this awful film obviously have never been to sea. That they can't write dialogue or direct their way out of a paper bag is also evident.

The issue is not food, it is water. You can go two to three weeks without any food and a lot longer if you can catch a few fish. But you cannot go three days without water in those conditions without loss of cognitive function and death shortly after. Also 60 minutes of rowing in a day in an open boat would double your water needs for a day. Also anyone involved in offshore fishing knows that it is not the distance to land -- but the currents that will or wont take you into shipping lanes that would matter. There are areas (eg where the Malaysian airliner went down) that have no regular shipping for 1,000 miles. But the area where they were is very close to extremely highly trafficked shipping lanes.