The brain child of Tom Hanks and his chosen screenwriter William Broyles Jr., Castaway was undoubtedly one of the best movies made in 2000. Truly, this film is just a concentrated 2 hours of Hanks doing what he does best, but watching this movie still pains me every single time.
I never feel a hint of acting when I’m watching this man. Though I consider myself an actor, I don’t think I’m at a place where I could even understand the level of acting Tom Hanks is capable of. He’s so entirely present and completely fills up a character. Because of this, you form such a strong attachment to Chuck as the film progresses, that you desperately want him to find peace at the end of his four year stranding, however when he’s finally rescued there’s nothing left to return to. I can’t imagine witnessing anything more heartbreaking, especially considering the attachment you form through watching him struggle for so long. You desperately want him to get that moment of “everything is better now”, but he never does. Still, Hanks has a way of endowing his characters with a strong spirit, so as much as it hurts to see him go through all of this, you know he’s going to be okay.
Hanks also does an amazing job of creating a character that is complex and likable even despite being a very fast paced, business minded man, in a position of power. He somehow brings forth power and dominance without coming across as an asshole. He shows his love for his wife, how he makes time to stop and call her even despite his mind always being on the time, and he shows kindness towards children, even in a hustling work environment. Despite the raised voice he’s using, he also doesn’t come across as unreasonable or a man of temper, just very quick minded and focused on the task. In the scene where the Fed Ex truck has been booted, he doesn’t throw a hissy fit. He assess, recalculates, and comes up with a solution immediately. We like and respect him in less than the first three minutes he’s on screen.
I personally think the mention of his tooth ache also brings that final grounding to his character, and establishes that he’s more than just a one demential character, as well as that he has a personal life and problems of his own that he doesn’t drag in to work.
The theft of a kid’s bike also could have been used to make him seem like a cliché bad guy, but instead they let it be just as humorous as it would be in reality if you borrowed a child’s a bike to deliver a package, with everyone jabbing him about it, and him also appreciating the humor of the situation. This also establishes that everyone likes him and feels comfortable enough to mess with him.
The relationship established between he and his wife at the start of the movie is another factor that adds so much emotional connection to this film. They were such an incredibly precious couple, it kills me every time it’s revealed that she was not only able to move on, but that she was able to do so probably within less than a year.
It also freaks me out every time I see the plane go down, even though I know what’s going to happen. At this point in the film I’m already so attached to the emotions he must be going through, that I feel his panic.
One of my favorite things is a movie that can make me feel real pity for a character, and this is definitely one of them.
For this film Hanks also gained 50 pounds at the start and then paused production midway for a year to loose those 50 pounds as his character’s body thinned in the film. Then, somewhere over the course of filming, he contracted staff infection from a cut in his leg that had to be taken care of before shooting could continue. Prior to all this, the Screenwriter, William Broyles Jr., spent a few days alone on an island just to learn what survival in this scenario would really look like. Therefore, many of his actual experiences during that time ended up in the movie, including the iconic befriending of a volleyball.
With all of this commitment and attention to detail, it’s no wonder the film turned into the masterpiece that it is, and this is a must watch for any cinephile’s list.
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