The documentary is about a true story, a human experiment in the 1970's. Films I have seen about such experiments have been interesting so far. How about an idea of crossing the Atlantic on a small raft with unknown people? That is mind-blowing, huh? On top of that, the sailors would be chosen from different cultures and backgrounds, selected by a researcher who is also on board.
The Swedish captain is the only experienced sailor on board. She and the rest of the crew are selected by the researcher Santiago Genovés. I had never heard of him nor the actual experiment before watching The Raft.
Archive footage from the actual raft is great stuff, but it looks too good to be "true" at times. In a way that it could have been shot by a group of friends having fun on a boat. I do believe there has been hours of film footage from the journey to choose from. Both the happy and horrible moments. I do not want to spoil it, so I am not telling more about the footage.
Santiago Genovés desperately wanted to see some kind of primitive behavior on Acali, as the raft was called. Genovés is portrayed himself to have been mentally off-tuned. He tried to manipulate and provoke the crew so that he could to see more conflicts and violence.
Hearing the original crew members to open up about their well-kept secrets, feelings and memories is touching. The replica of the raft is very well made but studio athmosphere is not an ocean. The reunion on "the raft" after decades is a great idea and makes the crew recall some details.
There are still many questions after seeing The Raft and probably I need to find out myself if I want to know what happened after all. I expected something different, but it was worth seeing this film!
The Swedish captain is the only experienced sailor on board. She and the rest of the crew are selected by the researcher Santiago Genovés. I had never heard of him nor the actual experiment before watching The Raft.
Archive footage from the actual raft is great stuff, but it looks too good to be "true" at times. In a way that it could have been shot by a group of friends having fun on a boat. I do believe there has been hours of film footage from the journey to choose from. Both the happy and horrible moments. I do not want to spoil it, so I am not telling more about the footage.
Santiago Genovés desperately wanted to see some kind of primitive behavior on Acali, as the raft was called. Genovés is portrayed himself to have been mentally off-tuned. He tried to manipulate and provoke the crew so that he could to see more conflicts and violence.
Hearing the original crew members to open up about their well-kept secrets, feelings and memories is touching. The replica of the raft is very well made but studio athmosphere is not an ocean. The reunion on "the raft" after decades is a great idea and makes the crew recall some details.
There are still many questions after seeing The Raft and probably I need to find out myself if I want to know what happened after all. I expected something different, but it was worth seeing this film!