An introspective look at the thematic implications of Cast Away.

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2001)

I am feeling, well, melancholy isn't perhaps the right word, but close. Pensive? Contemplative? I have been in this state for nearly 5 days now, and this is my homage to that feeling--this is my way of capturing it, harnessing it. As thoughts flood into my head I desperately try to write them down as quickly as possible, but surely some will get washed away with the tide.
I have just returned from a movie that has altered, or re-affirmed my view of life and the world. It is my second time seeing Cast Away, and I am undoubtably changed. Not so much changed, but perhaps intensely more aware of what is important in life.
All my days equalling 22 years to this point, have told me one day I would "become," but as I'm growing to learn, you never finish "becoming"--as you learn more and more about life and the world you try things on for size and see how they fit you. It doesn't end--nobody taps you on the head with a magic wand one day and says "ok, you have 'become', now go and live." It is the living that fuels the becoming.
That said, there are definitely defining times or moments when one feels themselves "becoming" faster or closer to who they think they are. This was one such time for me, watching Tom Hanks live out on screen my dream.
I really battle with the idea of who I am. One day I think I know, the next it has changed without warning. Identity is so difficult because you can't have an objective opinion about yourself, yet only you know yourself well enough to determine your own identity. This leads one to the conclusion that perhaps, though moulded by our nurture, it is indeed our nature that is already planned out for us which we reveal piece by piece, with each successive leg of experience and experiences in life.
One think I know for sure is, I am meant for a simple life. Not simple in that I am a simple person, for I am one of the most complex people I know of, but simple as in that is what I crave, long for and have grown up to appreciate. Despite my sometime wild dreams of wealth and prosperity, down deep I realize the wealth I seek is wealth of life, the marrow, the experience, and prosperity in making a difference on the world I touch.
The movie Cast Away has stirred something inside of me I need to remind myself of more often--the value of simplicity, the necessity to re-evaluate what is really important, and how much our antibiotic, commercialistic, technology-driven society brainwashes us into thinking that if we buy into it, we'll fill a void that can truly only be filled by God, and self-knowledge that comes from *truly* living. This kind of living is one virtually unknown to our North American society but it is one based on need and necessity, and not greed and desire. And when it comes down to it, truly all we need to live is faith, sustenance, purpose and above all else, love.
When we stand at the cross roads of life, there are many paths we could take, and only one we will. As Frost suggests, I shall embark on the one least travelled. My life awaits me along the path, not at the end. ****************************
While you may think I haven't told you anything about the movie, this is everything the movie has purged from me.. and so maybe I've told you more than a plot summary could ever do. If you want an opinion, form your own by seeing it, and experiencing it. It may cause you to re-evaluate your self, and your life. Remember, the depth of the movie is only as deep as you allow it to penetrate, and it's strength comes from understanding that it's "Cast Away" and not "Castaway". "I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep on breathing, because the sun will rise in the morning, and you never know what the tide will bring." --Tom Hanks in "Cast Away"