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| The old man and the sea. |
So the post-apocalyptic trend that started the year in
cinema has given way to stories of survival – specifically a single survivor
persevering against all odds. Gravity
and Captain Phillips are now joined
by All Is Lost, which sees Robert
Redford as the sole cast member in a film about a man fighting against the
elements and a damaged sailboat in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
When we first meet Our Man (he’s not credited with a
name) he’s penning a message in a bottle, a letter to his children apologizing
for not doing a better job. He has obviously reached a point where he believes
all is lost. Eight days earlier he’s awakened by the crashing sound of a shipping
container smashing a hole in the hull of his yacht. From here, the plot is
simple: he fixes the hole; he attempts radio communication; he’s tossed about
by a storm; loses the boat; sets adrift in a life raft hoping to be rescued in
the main shipping lane. Talking about the particulars of what happens in All Is Lost is not nearly as interesting
as how Our Man reacts to his increasingly despairing turns of events.
