Cast Away Review

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2017)

The film Cast Away centralizes its focus on a FedEx employee Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), who is the sole survivor of an airplane crash only to be stranded on an island that is drastically off-course. Throughout Chuck's extended stay on the deserted island he battles isolation, depravity, and the will to survive. After Chuck realizes he may never be found he battles the island both emotionally and physically in hopes of one day seeing his lover Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) again. Even though Chuck is faced with disparaging odds, he manages to accomplish great feats while maintaining his sense of humor and his drive to survive.
The major theme in the film is the importance of relationships. Throughout the film, this theme was repeatedly highlighted in various scenes. For instance, every night Chuck would fall asleep while staring at the pocket watch Kelly had given him with her photo in it, and in other scenes the camera would focus on the cave walls where he stayed, revealing the multiple pictures of Kelly's face that Chuck had drawn. Furthermore, as Chuck battles the crushing isolation of being helplessly alone his desperation for communication and a relationship begins to show when he begins to build companionship with a volleyball, that he names Wilson.
The bond between Chuck and Wilson becomes so strong that in a certain scene Chuck becomes angry at Wilson and throws him out of the cave only to rush out to the beach desperately trying to find him and apologize. Chuck's sanity wavers as the time on the island stretches longer and as his hope begins to fade; but with the help of his bond with Wilson, Chuck is able to talk through his struggles both physical and emotional, as Wilson seems to represent the rational side of Chuck's personality. Similar to the Life of Pi, Cast Away has a sense of dread and isolation that battle with the will of survival with metaphoric companions.
There are several techniques the director of Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis uses that amplify the feelings and settings in the film to its viewers. The camera angles that were used in multiple scenes were able to allow viewers to grasp the perils of Chuck's situation of being stranded on the island. In one scene the camera was angled downward as Chuck leaned over the edge to retrieve rope at the island's highest peak, this angle showed the danger of the task at hand for Chuck but also conveyed the intensity and tension of the moment. Another scene that used angling was when Chuck was attempting to start a fire again, the camera switched back and forth between Chuck's sweat covered face and the two pieces of wood he was using in his attempt to make an ember. With each shift between Chuck's face and the action of rubbing the sticks together the camera zoomed in closer on his face with each shot. This technique created a shared feeling of tension between the Chuck and the film viewers.
Another technique that was used was lighting, in many night scenes where Chuck was in the cave the screen was almost black and all that was view-able was the outline of Chucks face or body due to the faint moon beam the trickled in through the small opening at the top of the cave. In another scene, the cave was tinted with the glow of a fire that Chuck had created, as he uses the orange glow to view his swollen gums on the blade of an ice skate. Both dark scenes and even those lit by fire produce a feeling of solitude for the film viewer that instills the feeling of isolation.
Ultimately Cast Away is a story of never ending hope that is riddled with gut- wrenching scenes and depicts the human nature and its need for companionship and relationships. The old saying "you never know what you have until its gone" is amplified in this film as Chuck's love for Kelly never fades throughout his perilous journey.