Race of the Century

"Gonka Veka" - Soviet feature film, psychological drama. Great Britain, the end of the 1960s. The mechanic Donald Crowhurst (Leonhard Merzin), who has been unemployed for a long time, learns that the round-the-world sailing race - Golden Globe race is being organized by Sunday Times. Crowhurst, who invented the navigation device, begins to make his way there. In the end, having concluded an agreement with a certain company, he receives a catamaran yacht, on which he goes to sea as the last participant in this race. But the device for the sake of which he got involved in the whole story with the goal of testing it was not installed on the catamaran. Under the terms of the race, it was forbidden to enter ports or harbors on the way. During a storm, Donald Crowhurst's ship crashed. Forced to stop near the Argentine port, he and his sponsors hid from the organizers this violation of the rules of the race and he continued to participate in it, while retaining his leadership. This deception subsequently played a decisive role in the fate of Crowhorst. The film shows the psychology of the protagonist, members of his family, their relationships in the current difficult financial situation for the family. This exposes all their internal contradictions. Perhaps, only the daughter of Crowhurst Rachel (Natalya Guseva) with honor and inner dignity endures all the psychological burdens of the situation. The head of the family himself is unable to bear such a psychological burden of internal choice: on the one hand, deceit, concealment by him and his sponsors of a violation of the rules of the race, on the other hand, his family is on the verge of bankruptcy. At the end of the film, Donald Crowhurst chooses the third option for himself. But, as it turned out, even his death was used by his patrons and sponsors in order to make a profit.