Sole Survivor

2013

Documentary

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 73% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 154 154

survival airplane accident airplane crash sole survivor woman director

Plot summary

In the history of aviation, there have been only 14 of them: sole survivors of a commercial aviation disaster. Most have never spoken publicly about the loss, the guilt, the immense pressure of feeling "spared." Who, after all, could ever truly understand? The answer is only each other. Sole Survivor brings four of them together (George Lamson, Cecilia Cichan, Bahia Bakari and Jim Polehinke) to share their very complex, personal stories for the first time. They revisit the most harrowing moments of their lives in an effort to heal and overcome their most perplexing questions.

Director

Ky Dickens Photo
Ky Dickens

Top cast

Shawn Pruchnicki Photo
Shawn Pruchnicki as Self
Bahia Bakari Photo
Bahia Bakari as Self
Cecelia Cichan Photo
Cecelia Cichan as Self
George Lamson Jr. Photo
George Lamson Jr. as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
831.15 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 30 min
Seeds 2
1.51 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 30 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by alexcomputerkid

Sole Survivor is a very sad but informational documentary.

Sadly, there are many plane crashes in this world. Plane crashes have caused many casualties and destruction and sometimes that makes us question flying but one thing that has come out of some plane crashes are sole survivors. We know through history there have only been a handful of sole survivors from plane crashes and that's what makes it an interesting story. Sole Survivor is the CNN documentary of four people who are sole survivors and their life and effects after surviving their own crashes.This is a documentary that switches off and on who they are following and because of that, the film is a little uneven at times. Still though, the most interesting stories and people that eventually connected with each other are of George Lamson and Bahia Bakari. In 1985, George Lamson was celebrating Super Bowl Sunday in Reno when he survived a plane crash as he was traveling back to his home state of Minnesota. Bahia Bakari survived a crash in 2009 that left her in the water for nine hours hanging on to part of the plane's wreckage. Both stories connect as Lamson and Bakari lost parent figures in the crash and even though there is a language barrier between them, they meet up eventually and this likely will have a lasting impact on them.The most different story is from Jim Polehinke who was the co-pilot and only survivor of a crash in Kentucky. His story goes into how the control tower were understaffed, a wrong runway was used and who was to blame for the crash. This is the story that ultimately adds the most variety to the film.The most famous story is that of Cecelia Cichan, the toddler that survived a crash in the Detroit area that caused 154 casualties. This crash is only twenty five minutes from my house and is a story that connects to me as my aunt knew a person on the flight and it is still something that people talk about in my area close to thirty years after the crash. Even though Cecelia Cichan's story is the most famous of those in the documentary, it is kind of a forced segment and disappears afterwards.Sole Survivor is a very sad but informational documentary. It is a good film with a unique idea that will likely never be explored again. Sole Survivor proves yet again what great films are being produced by CNN Films.
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Reviewed by hannah-76794 10 / 10

A thoughtful, gentle look at survivor's guilt

I was worried this film might be "crash " and if one is expecting that, they're going to be disappointed by this film. For me, this film was a deep, sensitive sociological experience - understanding and almost FEELING what it would be like to survive something (unscathed) where everyone else around you dies. It's something so hard to comprehend and it's a film that could have been totally distasteful in the wrong hands - exploitive, intensive, etc. This film is none of those things and you can feel, when watching it, how much the subjects trusted and respected the film crew and vice versa.

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