Do you have what it takes to survive if your were stranded alone on a deserted Island?
Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is a fast paced FedEx worker. He travels to different countries daily to help improved their times on delivering these packages. On Christmas, Chuck is paged and needed to go to a location near Tahiti. He leaves his longtime girlfriend (Helen Hunt) behind saying, “I’ll be right back.” His plane goes down off the course it was traveling. He is washed up on shore of a deserted Island. He spends days wondering the Island too see if there is life on it. There is not.
Chuck slowly adjusts to living on the Island. He learns how to catch fish, open coconuts without a knife and learns to make rope out of trees. He found many FedEx packages that washed up on shore and decided to open all but one of them. He wanted to believe he would one day deliver it to its owner. One of the packages had in it a volleyball. Chuck named the ball Wilson and treated Wilson like it was his only friend. Is Chuck going crazy? Could his 4 years on this Island turn him into a different person? What would happen when he gets home? Will he get home?
Those are the questions that William Broyles Jr., the writer of this film, keeps you asking while you’re watching. The direction by Robert Zemeckis was fabulous. The scenery on this Island was beautiful, yet tragic.
Tom Hanks pulled off this movie with flying colors! From his dramatic weight change to his ability to act as the sole cast member for the duration of the film, shows his extreme talent as an actor. Helen Hunt was a great asset as his girlfriend. This film gets you to start questioning if you too could indeed survive. It gives the viewer the chance to see your own life and try to turn it down a notch. In the beginning of the movie, when Chuck was rushing from one place to another to another I had the Simon and Garfunkel song “Feelin’ Groovy” in my head. “Slow down you move to fast. You’ve got to make the morning last.” It was a movie that makes you think and feel. And feel I did! I sobbed for the most part of its 2 hours and 23 minutes. It could have lasted another hour, which would have been fine with me. If you haven’t guessed, I do recommend this film! New to Video/DVD this week.
Enjoy!
©2001 KAC