During a military exercise in August 2000, a state of the art Russian submarine sank in the Barents Sea. The supposedly invincible Kursk and over one hundred members of its crew were plunged to the bottom of the ocean.

Russian naval officers initially attributed the tragedy to a torpedo strike from a US naval submarine, and the newspaper Pravda feverishly predicted the onset of a third world war. Although Western observers alleged that an engineering fault had precipitated the disaster, Jean Michel Carré’s highly acclaimed documentary reveals a raft of damming evidence to the contrary.

This controversial documentary alleges that the Kursk sank as the result of an exchange triggered by a collision with the American submarine USS Toledo. Along with the USS Memphis, this vessel had been observing the Kursk as it tested a powerful new torpedo.

At some point, the Kursk and the Toledo collided, and the Memphis fired a Mark 48 Torpedo into the Russian submarine, substantially damaging it. The documentary then alleges that President Putin deliberately avoided tackling the issue in order to avoid straining relations with the American Government.

The documentary comprehensively outlines the true extent of American and Chinese involvement in the affair, explaining that crisis talks between Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton only just succeeded in drawing the world back from the brink of nuclear war. This astounding film uncovers the contradictions, lies and secrets surrounding the tragedy, revealing a disturbing tale of human error, political ambition and elaborate deception.