Against the Sun
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''Against the Sun'' is a 2014 American
survival Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
. Based on a true story in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the film was written, produced, and directed by Brian Falk and starring
Garret Dillahunt Garret Lee Dillahunt (born November 24, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in television, including the roles Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom ''Raising Hope'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Aw ...
,
Tom Felton Thomas Andrew Felton (born 22 September 1987) is an English actor best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the ''Harry Potter'' fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling. Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and ...
, and
Jake Abel Jacob Allen Abel (born November 18, 1987) is an American actor. He has appeared in the film adaptations of the young adult novels ''Percy Jackson'' (2010–2013), ''I Am Number Four'' (2011), and '' The Host'' (2013), along with portraying musi ...
. The film was released via
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
on January 23, 2015.


Plot

On January 16, 1942, US Navy airmen pilot Harold Dixon (
Garret Dillahunt Garret Lee Dillahunt (born November 24, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in television, including the roles Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom ''Raising Hope'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Aw ...
), bombardier Tony Pastula (
Tom Felton Thomas Andrew Felton (born 22 September 1987) is an English actor best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the ''Harry Potter'' fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling. Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and ...
) and radioman Gene Aldrich (
Jake Abel Jacob Allen Abel (born November 18, 1987) is an American actor. He has appeared in the film adaptations of the young adult novels ''Percy Jackson'' (2010–2013), ''I Am Number Four'' (2011), and '' The Host'' (2013), along with portraying musi ...
), flying a
Douglas TBD Devastator The Douglas TBD Devastator was an American torpedo bomber of the United States Navy. Ordered in 1934, it first flew in 1935 and entered service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced aircraft flying for the Navy and possibly for any na ...
torpedo bomber from the aircraft carrier USS ''Enterprise'', encounter problems on a patrol mission over the South Pacific. Separated from other aircraft on the mission and unable to get their bearings, Dixon makes a decision to head back to the carrier. Radioman Aldrich announces they are out of range of reception. Running low in fuel and unsure of their exact location, Dixon orders his crew to prepare for the ditching and to assemble their survival gear. After making a successful ditching, the survivors find themselves on a tiny life raft, surrounded by open ocean. Even seeing a
dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
from their carrier searching for them, they realize that the search is too far away from their position, and the rescue effort will soon move away from them. Dixon describes their predicament as "lost at sea", the naval term for giving up the search. With Dixon taking charge, an inventory of their survival gear is made. They realize there are no oars, or map, and more importantly, no food or water. With little hope of rescue, they drift across the ocean. Aldrich is eventually able to kill a shark after it attacks their makeshift fishing rod, which they then eat to stave off starvation, and rainfall initially prevents dehydration, though rations for both dwindle and the 3 are forced to drink their own urine. Aldrich's hand is bitten by a shark, and Dixon is almost eaten after retrieving a bird that Aldrich had shot. Tensions rise and Aldrich turns on Dixon prompting the latter to reveal that he fell asleep prior to their having to ditch the plane, and is the reason that they became lost in the first place, despite this both men are able to partially forgive Dixon after he uses their shoes as makeshift oars. They begin to row and agree that whoever spots land first is owed a meal by the other 2, "anything he wants, anywhere he wants". Despite this optimism, a storm hits the raft and Tony is nearly lost, though all 3 survive now with no supplies. At their lowest point and nearly dead, the trio spot land and wash up on the shore of an island, PukaPuka. Credits reveal they spent 34 days at sea, having rowed for over 1000 miles. Dixon was awarded the Navy Cross and never flew again. Tony was unable to continue with the Navy though his ashes were scattered at sea upon his death in 1986. Aldrich continued as a Radioman and married Tony's sister, Frances, in 1946.


Cast

*
Garret Dillahunt Garret Lee Dillahunt (born November 24, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in television, including the roles Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom ''Raising Hope'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Aw ...
as pilot Harold Dixon *
Tom Felton Thomas Andrew Felton (born 22 September 1987) is an English actor best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the ''Harry Potter'' fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling. Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and ...
as bombardier Tony Pastula *
Jake Abel Jacob Allen Abel (born November 18, 1987) is an American actor. He has appeared in the film adaptations of the young adult novels ''Percy Jackson'' (2010–2013), ''I Am Number Four'' (2011), and '' The Host'' (2013), along with portraying musi ...
as radioman Gene Aldrich * Nadia Parra as Frances (Tony's sister) *
Quinton Flynn Quinton Flynn is an American voice actor and comedian, who has provided the English voices of video game characters such as Raiden in the ''Metal Gear'' series, Marcus Damon in ''Digimon Data Squad'', Lea and Axel in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' seri ...
as Newsreel narrator


Production

Principal photography on ''Against the Sun'' started in 2014 with location work at
El Rosario, Sinaloa El Rosario () is a city and its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. It stands at . The city reported 16,001 inhabitants in the 2010 census. Overview El Rosario, a small town about south of Mazatlán, is famous for the ...
, Mexico. The cast underwent a strict diet of 500 calories daily to show the emaciated state of the survivors. As they lost weight, the actors more accurately depicted the stages of starving that took place over 34 days stranded on the ocean.


Release

''Against the Sun'' had a premiere at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 23, 2014. The film was released to video on demand on January 23, 2015. ''Against the Sun'' also played at the Arena Theater in Los Angeles.


Reception

''Against the Sun'' received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gives the film a score of 67% based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film had score of 43 out of 100, based on 5 reviews. The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' said ''Against the Sun'' was admirable but compared it unfavorably to
Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
's film '' Unbroken'' (2014) which had been released a month before.


Historical background

On January 16, 1942, Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate and enlisted Naval pilot Harold Dixon (aged 41, from
La Mesa, California La Mesa () is a city in San Diego County, located east of Downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of the Hills." History La Me ...
), radioman Gene Aldrich (aged 22 from Sikeston, Missouri) and bombardier Anthony Pastula (aged 24 of
Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...
) took off from the aircraft carrier USS ''Enterprise'' in a Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber Bureau Number 0335. As part of Torpedo Squadron SIX (VT-6), they were to undertake an anti-submarine sweep over the Pacific Ocean. Once airborne they were to maintain radio silence to safeguard the carrier being detected by the Japanese."TBD-1 Devastator Bureau Number 0335 Tail 6-T-6."
''pacificwrecks.com'', January 17, 2021. Retrieved: July 19, 2021.
Their aircraft lost position and was unable to return to the carrier. Running low on fuel, Dixon ditched the aircraft in the ocean. The aircraft sank quickly taking most of the crew's survival equipment with it. The men inflated the small rubber life raft and climbed inside. Surviving on rainwater and rations the men drifted for 34 days and travelled over 1,000 miles, before landing on the Pukapuka atoll, a friendly island. The crew was picked up a week later by a seaplane from the USS ''Swan''.


Medals

For his efforts to keep his crew alive Dixon was awarded the Navy Cross. The citation read "...for extreme heroism, exceptional determination, resourcefulness, skilled seamanship, excellent judgment and highest quality of leadership". Both Pastula and Aldrich received presidential commendations for their "extraordinary courage, fortitude, strength of character and exceptional endurance". The emergency life raft along with the crew was washed ashore on Pukapuka atoll and later sent to
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
. After the war, the raft was repaired and on display at the United States Naval Academy Museum for the remainder of the war. Currently on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum, the raft is displayed with a
cut-out Cut-out, cutout, or cut out may refer to: * Cutout animation * Cutout (electric power distribution), a combination fuse and knife switch used on power poles * Cutout (espionage), a mechanism used to pass information * Cut-out (philately), an impr ...
of the crew in the exhibit "Raft: A story of survival at sea".


Memorials

Dixon died on June 26, 1987, and is buried at
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is a federal military cemetery in the city of San Diego, California. It is located on the grounds of the former Army coastal artillery station Fort Rosecrans and is administered by the United States Department o ...
. Pastula died on October 19, 1982, and is buried in Ohio."Anthony J. 'Tony' Pastula (1917–1982)."
'findagrave.com''. Retrieved: July 19, 2021.
Aldrich died of cancer on March 27, 1973, in San Diego."Gene Aldrich' (1919–1973).
''findagrave.com''. Retrieved: July 19, 2021.
After the war, Aldrich married Frances Pastula, Tony's sister.


See also

* Pukapuka *
Survival film The survival film is a film genre in which one or more characters make an effort at physical survival. It often overlaps with other film genres. It is a subgenre of the adventure film, along with swashbuckler films, war films, and safari films. S ...
, about the film genre, with a list of related films


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Against The Sun 2014 films 2010s disaster films 2010s survival films 2010s English-language films American disaster films American drama films American survival films Disaster films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films about sharks Films set in the Pacific Ocean Films set in 1942 Films set in the 1940s Films shot in Mexico Pacific War films World War II aviation films World War II films based on actual events Sea adventure films 2014 drama films 2010s American films