Cast Away!

Year: 2000

Genre: Drama

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Tom Hanks

Rating: Excellent

There might be none who haven't watched this movie or at least heard of it. But in my case, I was very late in watching it. The reason being that I am not such a Hollywood movie buff. May be it is because of all these Bollywood, Malayalam, and Tamil movies around. Whatever it may be, yesterday I watched Cast Away and I should tell you I was so wonder struck! Kept on imagining what if something like that happened in my life.

A little bit of the story in brief is that Tom Hanks is a FedEx employee who is the lone survivor of a flight crash. He drifts and ends up on an island at some far corner of the world. The worst part is that there is nobody on that island. Literally NOBODY! Not even a bird or an insect! Sounds weird right. The rest of the story shows the miseries he face over there, how he gets in harmony and learns to live without any luxuries, and how he finally makes it to the human inhabited places.

An interesting thing in this movie is the things that come in handy for his stay there. The skater shoes are the best! One more adorable aspect is how he keeps from opening that one FedEx packet. There are so many remarkable things he does on the island - makes the volleyball, Wilson, his only friend to whom he speaks all day long, becomes an expert from catching fish to making fire, and even how he survives for 4 long years on this uninhabited island. I would have rotted off had I been in this situation! Finally he makes a raft, and sets out with Wilson on a last hope to make it to the land where he belongs. In due course, his raft gets destroyed by the storms and he loses Wilson. He loses hope and does not attempt to go any further and leaves his oars in the sea. A day later, he is found drifting on the broken raft by a cargo ship and brought back to his life. Every aspect of a lost man is being shown in very much detail and how humans have the capability of adjusting with their surroundings. Finally when he returns home, he is even more shattered when he knows that his love has married somebody and has a kid. She and her thoughts was what kept him alive all the 4 long lonely years of his life. Towards the end of the movie we see him standing at a cross road and deciding on which way to go to start a new life.

Overall the concept is good, but the treatment and visualization is brilliant! It captures human emotions wonderfully. A worth watch!