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It's just a noisy old rust-bucket cargo ship in the South China Sea, but Konrad is the proud young Polish captain of it - unexpectedly promoted to his first command by the boat's wealthy Chinese owner. As he arrives to take charge, it feels like the first day of school. There's something strange about it, but why question your good fortune?
He'd know why if he knew he was in a Joseph Conrad story, "The Secret Sharer," whose Oscar-winning director Peter Fudakowski will appear here at its Saturday night screening during the Carnegie Mellon University International Film Festival.
Jack Laskey plays the handsome, guileless hero, who is greeted with closed arms by his motley Chinese crew from the start. They suspect him and the rich, unscrupulous Boss of planning to scuttle the ship for an insurance scam. The crew members don't just work on the ship, they live there: It's their home as well as livelihoods that are at stake.
Tensions quickly escalate from disrespect to disobedience to outright mutiny. Against Konrad's orders, his sailors abandon ship for unapproved "shore leave," leaving the young captain impotently alone and helpless, anchored in a bay. Stranded and fretting on...
