Film Review: Cast Away (2000)

Fig. 1 Cast Away (2000) Film Poster

Award winning drama film Cast Away is a film which pulls at its audiences heartstrings so strongly that they do not want to let go. It deals with themes of society that many a viewer can relate with especially those middle classed workaholics; teamed together with Tom Hanks usual moving acting we escape into this world where societal necessities are overlooked and the true requirements such as companionship are brought to the forefront. Its no wonder that this was the film that influenced ABCs television show Lost with how it cleverly draws us in. Following Hanks character Chuck Noland through his day to day life of resolving productivity problems for U.S mail service FedEx we soon learn that this does not just consume his work aspect of life but also the time where his personal life should be. Nolands girlfriend Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) barely even features in the opening acts of the film. Instead, it is all work and no play, the audience being thrown into a societal ideology of capitalist accurate time keeping to fuel customer income. However, shouldnt Noland really be worrying about resolving the productivity problems of the time he spends with his partner to fuel the continuity of their relationship.

Fig. 2 Nolands FedEx time keeping obsession

A moving and somewhat cliff-hanger exchange between Noland and Frears involving a present not to be opened until New Years sets up the rest of the film. We never do find out what the present was instead joining Noland on a deserted island when his FedEx plane crashes and the film resolving in a way that just doesnt bring it back up. So the present and its delayed opening along with the plane feel more like a metaphor for not wasting time on those seemingly important things but rather open your eyes to those that are sitting there right in front of you waiting patiently. As melancholy as it is affirming, Cast Away tells a darkly comic, occasionally punishing parable about what happens when humans lose sight of humanity in lifes grand scheme. (Rogers: 2010) When Noland doesnt leap to the chance to spend more time with his partner he is instead punished with ending up completely alone with no work or personal life, just a locket which he soon realises just how important it is to him. Nolands whole experience on this deserted island is packed full of messages to the audience including the use of Hitchcocks device of the McGuffin in the form of the washed up FedEx packages. Noland goes about respecting and caring for them like he normally would and the audience are made to think that he will keep them pristine and return them when he finally gets off the island. Of course many viewers would find themselves at this point screaming for him to open them up, after all isnt survival more important than work commitments that actually do not come naturally to regular humanity but which have been hypodermically injected into us by the media and capitalist society that surrounds us. But to Hanks character he has psychologically saved this mail and so this stops the deconstruction of societys ideology injected into him. Eventually however, Noland does open the packages all but one. This package symbolises his regular capitalist belief still trying to hold on whereas, breaking this belief for the other packages shows a more Marxist, anticonsumerism, pro-life take on things when he realises that his way just isnt going to get him back to the world. MacGuffin is simply a dramatic device to avoid actual politics while showing how the world is slipping away from civility and co-existence. (Roman: 2009) This unpacking of parcels shows how far from Nolands ideological real world the film has arrived but when Noland keeps one parcel intact and delivers it later in the film the U.S mail service is now late symbolising his lateness with Kelly Frears too.

Fig. 3 FedEx package McGuffin

With Noland becoming alienated from society by being stranded on this island it becomes very hard to express his change from workaholic to someone stripped away from the trappings of normal life. However, director Robert Zemeckis cleverly uses commodity fetishism of our capitalist society with the package of the Wilson volleyball to do just this. Yes this is still a consumerist object of our society however; Noland does not use it in its intended manner but rather to fulfil a true need of humanity, companionship. The idea of isolation, of a forced, tragic removal from society and all of its swirling demands and pressures, is something that intrigues me to a point of exhaustion. (Orndorf: 2009) This volleyball shows the forced nature of this isolation because it still reflects

Nolands society, he could easily have used a coconut or other island object to make a friend from but there is still an unbreakable attachment to his learnt nature. Cast Away is a film full of clever devices which are not overtly obvious but which make its audience question the important things of their lives and live vicariously through Chuck Nolands struggle for humanity.

Fig. 4 Wilson!

Bibliography
Orndorf, Brian. (2009) The 25 Best Films of 2000-2009 (Part 2) http://www.brianorndorf.com/2009/12/the-25-best-films-of-20002009-part-2.html (Accessed 31/10/2012) Rogers, Nick. (2010) Heroes of the Zeroes: Cast Away http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/02/24/heroes-of-the-zeroes-cast-away/ (Accessed 31/10/2012) Roman, James. (2009) Bigger Than Blockbusters: Movies That Defined America. U.S.A. ABC-CLIO. (Accessed 31/10/2012)

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1. Cast Away (2000) Film Poster From: Cast Away Directed by: Robert Zemeckis. [film poster] On moviegoods.com http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product_static.asp?master_movie_id=11870&sku=134294 (Accessed 31/10/2012) Fig. 2. Nolands FedEx time keeping obsession (2000) From: Cast Away Directed by: Robert Zemeckis. [film still] On rggcommunications.com http://rggcommunications.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/07/Cast-Away-movie-f121.jpg (Accessed 31/10/2012) Fig. 3. FedEx package McGuffin (2000) From: Cast Away Directed by: Robert Zemeckis. [Film Still] On whatever-dude.com http://www.whatever-dude.com/wdimages/pposts/castaway3.jpg (Accessed 31/10/2012) Fig. 4. Wilson! (2000) From: Cast Away Directed by: Robert Zemeckis. [Film Still] On photobucket.com http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae356/archiesmates/Castaway5.jpg (Accessed 31/10/2012)