An Unconventional Piece of Mainstream

Rating: Null/10 (29 March 2004)

Though this movie belongs to the department of Hollywood mainstream, it can boast a couple of devices that distinguish it from productions, normally spawned by this machine, and, at the same time, taking into account these devices' quite daring nature, render its tremendous box-office a bit puzzling.
The first one of them is, of course, that uncompromising with no breaks, regular dialogue or music island sequence which shows a quite memorable encounter of the hero with the "benign indifference of the world". This part of the film, especially the detailed description of the first days on the island highlighting how important our every step or action can - and, probably, should - be, reminds me of 1956 Robert Bresson's "A Man Escaped" that contains a meticulous report of an escape endeavour undertaken by a French prisoner during WW2.
In his usual merciless manner not only Bresson manages in his movie to render extremely important the main character's every single action and movement. He practically makes the audience "fulfill" them along with him, and thus creates tension beyond conceivable providing us with an actually "physical" notion of what it takes here to succeed (F.Truffaut called Bresson's movie one of the most accomplished attempts at creating a real time out of an imaginary one).
Similarly, Mr. Zemeckis in his one doesn't take the path of least resistance, and instead of just delivering a sympathetic character and emotionally involving situations makes us literally spend some time being encircled by the beautifully ruthless ocean and conjuring a spark out of damp wood (by the way, the French lieutenant's whispered recounting of his actions somehow corresponds to the dialogues with "Wilson").
And when the "man escaped" there comes the second device - which, I guess, has surprised, if not disappointed, those viewers who had been expecting a more conventional structure. And which evokes another allusion - this time to the similar structural device used in A. Hitchcock "Vertigo". In his masterpiece Hitchcock suddenly reveals the secret somewhat forty minutes before the actual ending and thus elegantly shifts the emphasis. He eliminates the mystery as a driving engine, but significantly amplifies for the viewer the dramatic effect of the heroine's final metamorphosis.
Here the escape from the island doesn't triumphantly round off the film either, but opens the third and, in a sense, most dramatic part of it - in which the protagonist goes back to the world that didn't get frozen when he had left it. And this part leads to the resolution that might seem not entirely satisfactory to some viewers, but, in fact, makes a perfect ending for this movie. Which does not probably avoid all clichés of conventional mainstream but, at least, gives it a good try. And, at the end of the day, manages to provide the audience with a fresh, in some ways bold, and in many ways touching contents.