All Is Lost

2013 survival story

Rating: 15/20

Plot: A sailor finds himself in a little bit of trouble after he wrecks his boat out in the middle of nowhere and later runs into a storm. He fights to survive while the odds are stacked against him.

Robert Redford hasn't been in nearly as many movies as I would have guessed. It's something like 42, but one of those was an uncredited role as a "tall basketball player" which doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not going to pretend this is like a performance to end all performances or anything, but it's impressive to watch a guy carry an entire movie devoid of any other characters. None. Well, unless sharks and fish count. His role is nearly wordless although there's one terrific "Fuuuuuuuuck!" that he gets to utter at one point. This really is a study in Hemingwayian grace under pressure or stoicism. I know I would have screamed "Fuuuuuuuck!" more than a few times if I was in this guy's rubber pants. I can't even drive to work without screaming "Fuuuuuuuck!" a dozen or so times. This had to have taken a physical toll on a guy in his late-70's, and Redford apparently insisted on doing almost all of his own stunts for this. The film's got a realism that I liked a lot, and part of that is what seemed to be the gradual weathering of Redford's face and hands. At that age, he started out slightly weathered anyway. His performance is a good one, all subtle expression and body language, but it's really the ocean that's the star of this show. I don't know how much of this was special effects wizardry, but it certainly looked real to me. And if a lot of it--shots of storms, boats passing by, schools of fish darting around, circling sharks, and other things I can't mention because they'd be spoilers--is the kind of stuff where you can't quite figure out how it was even filmed. The ocean's so expansive, which I realize is kind of a dumb thing to say, but there's something about the way it's filmed here that makes it seem even more obvious. A lot of the shots of Redford are right up in his grill, almost claustrophobic. You're right there with the guy as he tries to be resourceful and survive this experience. And then there's the background which is just an endless blue void. It's enough to make a guy feel small, even somebody who played Jeremiah Johnson. There's almost nothing at all sentimental or artificial about this guy's experience, and he's not a big action hero who has all the answers and is capable of saving himself in a way that only people in Hollywood can. He's an everyman; he's even called "our man" in the credits. And that helps the audience connect his experience to stay alive with its own.

The ending: If you've seen this, what do you think happens? If you haven't seen this, you should probably stop reading. Seems ambiguous to me. He's quite obviously given up as he's decided to Leonardo Dicaprio into the depths of the Indian Ocean. The last shot we see before the screen goes blindingly white is a hand grabbing his, but that hand just doesn't feel like it could actually happen, does it? Are we supposed to take that at face value, or is that light supposed to be, you know, The Light? Am I reading into things too much because I always secretly hope nature wins in these man vs. nature stories?