The film is based on the book of the same name written by oceanographer Slava Kurilov (1936–1998).
In December 1974, he managed to escape from a cruise ship. Without food or water, and without proper diving equipment—armed only with a snorkel and fins—he swam for nearly three days and covered about 100 kilometers to the Philippine island of Siargao, where he was rescued by local fishermen.
After spending several months in the Philippines, he returned to Canada, where he obtained Canadian citizenship, and then settled in Israel in 1986, where he worked at the Israeli Institute for Oceanographic Research in Haifa.
When the Soviet Union learned of his escape, he was tried in absentia and sentenced to ten years in prison for “high treason.” His story was adapted into a film in Russia in 2012 and aired on the main state television channel.
