Against the Sun

Against the Sun is a 2014 American survival drama film. Based on a true story in World War II, the film was written, produced, and directed by Brian Falk and starring Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, and Jake Abel. The film was released via video on demand on January 23, 2015. Plot On January 16, 1942, US Navy airmen pilot Harold Dixon, bombardier Tony Pastula and radioman Gene Aldrich, flying a Douglas TBD Devastator 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 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.