The power of love "At the mercy of the elements"

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

Anyone will find something personal in the story of survival in the open ocean. The very atmosphere reigning around, and the events taking place with the heroes, touch the strings of the soul, bringing the most intimate to the surface. Everyone begins to imagine what he himself would do in a similar situation.

Real story

The film is filmed on real events - this is the love story of two travelers, Tami Oldham Ashcraft and Richard Sharp, who were alone in the open ocean on their yacht at the epicenter of the 1983 hurricane. The ship was badly damaged and deviated from the course, there was almost no hope of salvation. When the storm died down, Tami discovered that her lover was injured and unable to steer the yacht.

This is a story about a woman, about strength of mind, determination and all-conquering love. The girl understood that she needed to save her life and at the same time save her beloved man

Ten years later, Tami wrote a book where she told how she managed to maintain her self-control and not break down in a tragic coincidence. It was a job that the girl spent 4 years of her life on.

Once the book fell into the hands of the famous screenwriters Aaron and Jordan Candella, who immediately became her fans. It was then that the idea came up to make a film about this love story, but the Candells were working on the script for another picture - the animated film "Moana". The plots are somewhat similar, because these are stories about the journey, the call of the sea, true love and the fight against the storm.

The brothers were born on the Hawaiian Islands and spent all their childhood on the coast, so the marine theme is so close to them. Aaron and Jordan wanted to show in the film how extreme conditions in the open ocean reveal the true human essence, and real feelings inspire hope.

Later, the twin scriptwriters managed to get to know Tami Eshkraft personally and even received an invitation to visit the San Juan Islands. The woman told her story down to the smallest detail, shared her memories and photographs. She wanted to convey how much she loved Richard, and that only this feeling helped her stay alive and not go crazy.

The film begins with an unobtrusive acquaintance of the characters, when the young American Tami (Shailene Woodley) and the Englishman Richard (Sam Claflin) almost immediately feel a kinship and become closer. It would seem that their happiness should last forever, young people are ready to spend their whole lives with each other, traveling on the ocean and watching the sunsets of incredible beauty. The plot unfolds gradually, allowing viewers to plunge deeper into the world of the beloved in order to understand the strength and nature of their feelings for each other.

But unexpectedly, a couple of old acquaintances offer Richard to overtake their yacht from Tahiti to San Diego for a considerable sum. Without hesitation, he agrees, embarking on this journey with his beloved Tami. Young people did not even suspect that faced with an impossible task - to overcome the strongest hurricane in history.

On the fateful night, the 13-meter yacht is covered with giant waves, navigation fails, and the ship almost crumbles into small chips. Miraculously, there are small supplies of drinking water and food that Tami was able to rescue from the rubble. Soon, the girl notices, not far from the drifting broken yacht, Richard, lying on the boat with broken ribs and a spine. She drags him aboard, at which point the battle for survival begins.

The love story does not find a happy ending, but meets on the way with an obstacle - a shipwreck. And only a strong feeling helps to overcome difficult moments in life and does not let go of insanity

For most of the picture, the main character tries to control a dilapidated ship to bring it to the shore, while caring for the immobilized Richard. Only at the end will the viewer be able to really understand what really happened to Tami, and how she managed to survive. After watching, no one will be able to remain indifferent - after all, this is simply impossible.

Teamwork in the wild

The film "In the Power of the Elements" was filmed almost entirely in the open ocean. Not everyone knows that the director of the film, Balthazar Cormacour, is a world-class seafarer. He perfectly understands the specifics of survival on the high seas and has experience filming in natural conditions alone with the elements. Kormakur is known for such works as "Everest", "Deeps", "101 Reykjavik", he is good at making disaster films, immersing the viewer in the plot with his head.

The film was filmed over 49 days in Fiji on the high seas, and the team spent only a few weeks in closed pavilions at a film studio in New Zealand

Filming was not always carried out in favorable weather:

• actors and cameramen had to work in heavy rain, strong winds and waves;
• the team had to face the unknown and test themselves for strength;
• it is a unique experience where every day everything changes and you have to adjust to the mood of the ocean.

“The equipment often broke down, the equipment went out of order, and the drowned devices were too many to count,” laughs Kormakur. The best shots, as it turned out, were the scenes filmed on boats in the wild. Even the planned storyboards and sketches did not always go according to plan, as the ocean dictated its own terms.

Hardly anyone from the team will be able to call the shooting of "In the Power of the Elements" an easy boat trip or a serene excursion. It is rather an exciting and unforgettable, but insanely difficult and time-consuming job, in which absolutely everyone was immersed: starting with assistants, ending with a team of cameramen, actors and Tami Oldham Ashcraft herself, who appeared on the set in the middle of the filming process.

Kormakur admitted that he is making a film for the first time with a woman in the lead. Shailene Woodley was perfect for the role of Tami, she is the same purposeful, independent, freedom-loving and prefers to go her own way. Each time before entering the set, the actress consulted a chapter from the book in order to better convey the mood and feelings of the heroine.

"In the Power of the Elements" (released on June 28, 2018) could have become an excellent guide to survival in extreme conditions, if not for the tragedy of the events described:

• a vegetarian heroine has to step over herself and kill fish for food;
• cope with hallucinations;
• endure intense thirst, hunger and despair.

This is a picture about the courage and incredible will to live of a small fragile girl who survived thanks to faith and love.

Icelandic national team at the show "At the mercy of the elements"

In connection with the latest world events and the "football" excitement on June 25, a pre-premiere screening of the film "In the Power of the Elements" was held in Rostov-on-Don especially for the Icelandic national team. Remarkably, the director of the film, Baltasar Kormakur, is of Icelander origin.

The footballers watched the film at the Bolshoi cinema in the original version in English, which was provided by the Volga film distribution company. Athletes were inspired by the story of heroes who can challenge the elements and show the strength of their spirit.