[8]
Tom Hanks reteamed with director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) for this survival story about a FedEx worker whose plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean, stranding him on a small, deserted island. He braves the elements, starvation, injury, and near bouts of insanity for four years before he’s able to build a raft and attempt escape. Thoughts of his fiancée (Helen Hunt) win out over suicide — but if he does manage to return to civilization, will he be able to pick up the pieces of his old life and carry on like nothing happened?
Cast Away is a mature, meditative piece from Zemeckis, far less sentimental and much more compelling than the mawkish Forrest Gump. After the harrowing plane crash sequence, Zemeckis relies on Hanks — in an often mute role — to carry the bulk of the film. Hanks is fully committed. To depict his character’s extreme weight loss, production shut down for nearly a whole year (during which time Zemeckis shot What Lies Beneath) so Hanks could drop 55 pounds for the back half of the movie.
Screenwriter William Broyles Jr. demonstrates the ‘show, don’t tell’ philosophy of screenwriting superlatively. It’s only when Hanks starts talking to Wilson, a volleyball that washed up on shore, that much dialogue enters the film. And even here, it’s far from lazy or redundant writing. Wilson essentially gives Hanks’ character a chance to express his inner thoughts, helping him come to the realization that he’s never appreciated people enough. It’s only by stripping away everyone from his life that Hanks is able to rebuild that appreciation. Zemeckis, Hanks, and Broyles capture the deep rooted need for human connection so powerfully, that the film induces genuine tears when Hanks and the volleyball are accidentally separated.
Cast Away doesn’t have a lot of plot and could have become boring in lesser hands. But we’re fully invested in Hanks’s survival and soulful transformation, and grateful that it isn’t executed too heavy-handedly. Composer Alan Silvestri doesn’t even contribute a single note of music until well over the ninety-minute mark. Some of the early computer-generated imagery is far from convincing by today’s standards, but as a story, Cast Away is one of the most touching films in Zemeckis’s and Hanks’s careers. We could use more films that encourage us to reflect on our lives and appreciate all the things we take for granted.
Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (Tom Hanks), Sound