Discription
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)
Summary
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage is a war disaster film based on the true story of the USS Indianapolis and its crew in the final days of World War II. The film focuses on the ship's top-secret mission to deliver components of the atomic bomb, its subsequent sinking by a Japanese submarine, and the horrifying four-day ordeal of the survivors who were left floating in shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea, followed by the controversial court-martial of the ship's captain.
Plot
The film is set in 1945 during the closing stages of World War II. The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, commanded by Captain Charles McVay III (Nicolas Cage), is assigned a highly classified mission: to transport parts of the atomic bomb, "Little Boy," to a US base on Tinian Island. The mission is so secret that the ship is not provided with a protective escort.
After successfully delivering the cargo, the Indianapolis is en route to the Philippines when, on July 30, 1945, it is ambushed and torpedoed by a Japanese Imperial Navy submarine, the I-58, commanded by Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto (Yutaka Takeuchi). The ship sinks in just 12 minutes, taking approximately 300 crewmen with it.
Around 900 survivors are left stranded in the open ocean with no lifeboats, little food or water, and no one aware of their sinking due to the secrecy of their mission. Over the next five harrowing days, the men endure relentless dehydration, exposure, and repeated, brutal shark attacks. Many men die from saltwater poisoning, delirium, or being attacked by the hundreds of oceanic whitetip sharks drawn to the area.
On the fifth day, the remaining survivors are spotted by a PBY Catalina aircraft crew on a routine patrol, and a subsequent large-scale rescue effort is launched. Only 316 of the original 1,197 crewmen are ultimately saved.
In the aftermath of the disaster, the US Navy seeks a scapegoat for its failure to notice the ship was missing. Captain McVay is controversially court-martialed for "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag" in a war zone, even though the Japanese submarine commander, Hashimoto, testifies that zigzagging would not have saved the ship. The film concludes with McVay's conviction and his later, posthumous exoneration in 2000.
Cast
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Nicolas Cage as Captain Charles B. McVay III
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Tom Sizemore as C. Richard "Ditch" McWhorter
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Thomas Jane as Lt. Adrian "Chuck" Gwinn
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Matt Lanter as Chief Petty Officer Brian "Bama" Smithwick
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James Remar as Admiral Parnell
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Yutaka Takeuchi as Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto
Crew
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Director: Mario Van Peebles
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Screenplay by: Cam Cannon and Richard Rionda Del Castro
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Producers: Richard Rionda Del Castro, Michael Mendelsohn
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Music by: Laurent Eyquem
Release Date
October 14, 2016 (United States - Digital Rental/Limited Theatrical)
The film premiered in the Philippines on August 24, 2016.
