This is a silent, non-spectacular movie, devoid of special effects, guns, action, violence, steamy scenes and with only one character for 90% of movie length.
Bah! Boring.....! That was what I would have said, but I sat there watching, assimilating, thinking, through all the four years...if the 4 years is confusing, you watch the movie and it will be clear like the water in stream between little rocks. I hadn’t noticed the clear water earlier.....now I do. I have suddenly developed a liking for my otherwise hard bed, the food be it ’karela’ (bitter gourd) or ’brinjal’ and I am not complaining that the sun always shines on my TV.
If all the above doesn’t make much sense, you haven’t watched the movie. Well I recommend see it right away. The movie is worth much more than this review.
So what is so good about the movie? Many would argue over many good aspects, though I have only one answer - Tom Hanks. This guy really is a good actor and his movies are always some kind of chapter on life that I missed during school/college. ’’Saving Private Ryan’’, ’’Forrest Gump’’, ’’You got mail’’ and now another splendid performance in yet another life chapter called ’’cast away’’. This movie changes the way you look at things and start appreciating things/surroundings and largely LIFE.
About the movie: An overworked and zealous Fed-Ex trainer, Chuck Noland has really a lot to teach the other guys about on-time delivery. And with a reputation of stealing a boys cycle to deliver Fed Ex parcel when his truck broke down, Chuck is an asset for the company. But now he has to part ways with the love of his life, when he is summoned urgently for a trip. His girl presents him with a Gandhian watch and her snap in it.
What follows is one of the most spellbinding aerial disasters ever orchestrated for a motion picture. Events take place inside the plane, giving viewers a vicarious glimpse of a harrowing nose-dive into the ocean...One is used to see sky and clouds out of the window in cockpit, but, will it not freeze the nerves and stop the heart when suddenly you see the stormy waves of the ocean from the same window? What happened?...where are we? Woooooossshhhhh!!!
Open your eyes and the only one question left would be one of the typical Hindi movie dialogs - ’’main kahan hoon?’’. Chuck sees a panaromic view of an island....which is not like the one where we plan a vacation getaway! It’s isolated! Rest of the movie is set on this island.
Initially people found scenes funny and I heard a lot of jeering and loud comments followed by cackles and laughters as Tom tries to make sense of where he is and what is to be done. And to be honest I found some scenes comic too especially when Tom is desperately hungry and tries to crack a coconut by banging it on a huge rock, then by hammering it with a stone. The stone breaks but the coconut is not cracked. The events later, however grabbed serious attention of the audience as the movie captivates and meshes all our feelings and emotions to this one guy, stranded all alone with only some drifted Fed Ex packages and his colleagues dead body. How Chuck makes use of available resources, his futile attempts to leave the island, the pain caused by hard and pointed shells pierced over his leg, decreasing food and water, his sheer loneliness, bond with a ball (called Wilson) is a rich enthralling experience which the audience witnesses and mutter “Thank God, its not me”.
There is this one scene, which will give readers (who haven’t seen the movie) a clear idea. Chuck has some problem with his teeth and he can’t bear it. He decides that he work as a dentist on himself and his only sharp tool happens to be a long blade of a ski shoe. He places that entire blade between the teeth and gives one whack with a stone. Gross. I heard girls scream, “Oh No…no…no please (whack)…Ahhhhh…Oh my God”.
The guys determination to live and fight with mother nature is guided by only one aim – to get back to his lover. Enough is enough. He gets along preparing for getting back home. He prepares a boat and peddles it away from the forsaken island. This is one of the best part of the movie, that leaves people at the edge of their seat. Tom has to bear the brunt of huge sea waves that rocks the boat and his confidence and what realistic these waves seem. Just splendid! But with great grit and determination these monstrous task is accomplished. (reminds me of the spider story…”try and try till you succeed”). Another impressive scene is where there is a sudden whoosh noise and spurt of water hits Toms face in the darkness of the creepy night while he is still alive on that raft and something huge emerges from the deep and then it’s a huge tail that sinks in. It’s a whale that surfaces and there is eye to eye contact of the whale and Tom. Then a touchy scene where Chuck loses his ball Wilson (his lone friend, God, soulmate) out in the sea and cannot reach out to it as it drifts apart.
A ship suddenly appears and Chuck is back home, but its after 4 years. Does he get his love? See the movie cause this part is most emotional and is best enjoyed out there in theatres.
A word of advice: Take the love of your life (GF, wife…someone) with you to this movie so that you don’t feel as deserted as Chuck.
Well too bad he couldn’t get the oscar.....