I think we can all say at one point in our lives we like to
take control and just be in charge of our lives, but what would happen if you
became in charge of someone else’s life? What would happen if say you were on a
luxurious cruise ship and one day while sailing your ship hits a rouge mine and
sinks? Well in Alec Holmes’s case he manages to survive along with twenty-seven
other survivors who share one life boat that was built for nine people only.
Among those survivors was the dying captain who trusted Holmes enough to make
him the captain. There were skeptics and doubters, but he manages to get his
point across that no matter what they say he is still in charge.
Since the boat was way too small to hold all of them at
once, Holmes decides that they would take shifts of who would stay in the boat
and who would wait in the water while tied to the sides of the boat. It was
hard on them especially for those who became sea sick and those who were injured
from the sinking. Then, it got worse because Holmes and the survivors were
about to get stuck in the middle of a storm. After a badly injured passenger
jumps ship Holmes realizes he won’t be able to save everyone from the storm and
makes a gruesome decision. He was going to throw over all the sick and injured
to drift in the sea and let the strong and healthy survive.
This movie was directed by Richard Sale and was released in
1957. The film stars Tyrone Power who
plays Alexander Holmes. This was actually
based on a real event and when the survivors were found Holmes went to trial
and because of the circumstances he was only imprisoned for six months. At the
end of the film, they ask: do you think what Holmes did was the right thing to do
or was what he did wrong and should he have had a greater punishment? More importantly, if you were put in
charge, what would you have done?
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