Cast Away (2000)
Tom Hanks, Moturiki Island, Fiji
ASIN: B00009V7ON
After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland is ripped out of his hasty life by the clock in a plane crash, he finds himself alone on the shores of a tropical island. First, frustration gets to him and then he realizes how little his chances are to ever get back to civilisation. Four years later, Chuck has learned very well how to survive on his own: mending his dental health, catching fish with a spear, predicting the weather with a selfmade calendar. A photograph of his girlfriend Kelly has kept his hopes alive all these years. Finally, Chuck takes the opportunity to take off for home: He sets off on a wooden raft with a sail that has washed ashore.
Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose personal and professional life are ruled by the clock. His fast-paced career takes him, often at a moment’s notice, to far-flung locales - and away from his girlfriend Kelly, played by Helen Hunt. Chuck’s manic existence abruptly ends when, after a plane crash, he becomes isolated on a remote island - cast away into the most desolate environment imaginable. Stripped of the conveniences of everyday life, he first must meet the basic needs of survival, including water, food and shelter. Chuck, the consummate problem solver, eventually figures out how to sustain himself physically. But then what? Chuck begins his true personal journey. After four years, fate gives Chuck a chance to fight his way back to civilization, only to find an unexpected emotional challenge greater than all the earlier physical ones. His ability to persevere and to hope are a product of his life-changing experience.
It’s fascinating to witness Chuck’s emerging survival skills, and Hanks’s remarkable physical transformation is matched by his finely tuned performance. With slow, rhythmic camera moves and brilliant use of sound, Zemeckis wisely avoids the postcard prettiness of The Black Stallion and The Blue Lagoon to emphasize the harshness of Chuck’s ascetic solitude, and this stylistic restraint allows Cast Away to resonate more than one might expect. Even the final scene–which feels like a crowd-pleasing compromise–offers hope without shoving it down our throats. You may not feel the emotional rush that you’re meant to feel, but Cast Away remains a respectable effort.
