USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

'USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage' is an American war drama movie directed by Mario Van Peebles and starring Nicolas Cage. The script, written by Cam Cannon and Richard Rionda Del Castro, is based on the true story of the loss of the USS Indianapolis ship at the end of World War II. The film had a limited release in the States and then went to video-on-demand, where it was distributed around the world.

The action is set in 1945, when the USS Indianapolis sails de Philippine Sea with the material needed for the atomic bomb which will be released in Hiroshima several weeks later. The boat, lead by Capitan Cahrles McVay (Cage) suffers an attack by a Japanese submarine, who sinks the ship. Almost all of the 1,200 men crew dies in the attack, although some of them survive floating over the boat fuselage for five days in a sea full of sharks.

On the fifth day, the survivors are spotted by chance by an airplane and rescued. The blame of negligence fall under Captain McVay, who is accused by a militar tribunal, against all existing evidence. After spending years receiving angry letters and phone calls of the victims families, McVay ends up committing suicide before the year 2000, when President Bill Clinton exonerates McVay of all charges.

The movie also has a fictional plot about two crew members, Mike D'Antonio and Bama Smithwick, who fall in love of the same woman. However, only one of them will end up surviving the tragedy.

Even if the team spent 5 years investigating the accident and talking to survivors, and having a 40 million dollar budget, the movie was completely destroyed by critics, highlighting its horrible special effects and poor script.