One question I’ve never had the answer to is: If you were stranded on an island which three items would you bring? This has always been a tough decision, if the quota was lengthened to ten then I’d definitely would be able to compile a list. It’s so easy to think of having a laptop, books—the internet—from the comfort of my futon but what if you didn’t have anything left?

What if all had you had was swept away, cast away?  Well character Chuck Noland (played by Tom Hanks) endures this question through experience in Cast Away where the FedEx worker gets lost at sea during the holidays.

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Chuck retrieves FedEx boxes that have washed up on the shore from the plane crash.

In the beginning of the film there was a lot of depth given to Chuck’s character. We see him in his element, delivering shipments and reprimanding workers. We see Chuck consoling his co-worker, Stan (played by Nick Searcy), who has a wife suffering from a terminal illness. We see him interacting with family and exchanging gifts with Kelly before he leaves her for his flight. The beginning of the film depicts all the things that Chuck has, a family, a girlfriend, a friend, before everything is washed away.

For plot’s sake, I was happy things did not come to easily to him during his time on the island. Finding food was a task. Starting a fire was also quite taxing. Getting a coconut open also wasn’t a walk in the park. It really conveyed the difficulty of not having tools, of doing everything yourself because you only have yourself. I was so happy when Chuck eventually opened the washed up FedEx packages. I’m sure that middle school student can live without her ice skates for a couple of practices so Chuck can live on.

Chuck’s interactions with Wilson were psychologically complex. Whenever he disposed of Wilson whether intentionally or unintentionally, my heart went out to him. One thing you notice in the beginning of the movie is that Chuck is never alone. He has Stan, he has Kelly, he has his staff, and he’s surrounded at a table by family. However, he’s all alone on the island so the idea of one friend, even one without a heartbeat was probably keeping him sane instead of being a product of his sanity.

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Wilson, made out of a volleyball and Chuck’s blood,  accompanies Chuck during his stay at the island. 

When I had begun this movie, I thought his time on the island would only last a couple months at most, instead it was years. The time jump had come at such a surprise. Chuck had endured so much, he had fought for so long that as a viewer you just want him to have freedom, another soul to speak to, a warm bowl of soup, a blanket—anything!

I also wanted him to have magical healing powers like the vampires in all my CW shows since he acquired so many injuries. I grew to care for Chuck’s character so much that seeing him get punctured by coral and taking out his teeth with rocks made me squirm. Chuck was also considerably thinner toward the end of the movie and I commend Tom Hanks for losing the weight. In an article by Entertainment Weekly, it’s stated that Hanks had to loose 50 pounds for the role. As anyone would assume, loosing the weight had not been easy for Hanks and eating all those coconuts hadn’t as well. When asked in an interview about his regimen while filming, Hanks responded, “Think you can eat a lot of coconuts? Well, let me tell you, it’s a natural laxative. So just put two and two together there. Take a coconut, drink all the milk out of it, and then eat all the insides, and you tell me how you feel after an hour and a half.”

I commend any actor that has to undergo severe physical change for a role, it takes a lot of commitment and this risk is what made this movie so chilling and saddening. Viewers notice the changes in Chuck after the time jump in his weight and they feel Chuck’s desperation and loneliness through Hank’s portrayal of the character.

Critics also felt the power of Hank’s interpretation as Hanks won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor for the role. Sales for the film were also at an all time high, which is why I decided to review it, as the movie made 223 million in the box office domestically as stated by Box Office Mojo.  Ratings were also pretty generous as IMDb has a rating of 7.7/10 for the film out of 405, 137 reviews, while critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4.

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Chuck keeps hold of Kelly’s watch throughout the movie, even if the trinket fails to tick.

My one misgiving with the entire film is how the relationship with his girlfriend Kelly was wrapped up. The entire movie she seems to be his anchor. Chuck can’t stop staring at the watch Kelly had given him just before his flight. Spoilers ahead, I was expecting a tearful reunion at the end of the movie and I was pretty mortified with what Chuck came home to. It was almost confusing as Kelly admits to have been searching for him, believing he was still alive however through the developments she has made in creating a family, one would believe otherwise. So I found her character just lost and confused toward the end. I also have to mention the box Chuck gave her earlier in the film. What was in it? Were we meant to assume it was a wedding ring? I would have loved to know.

To conclude, I loved how my emotions were played with and I thought I would find myself bored while watching since Hanks is the only character for a big chunk of the film, however I found myself engaged throughout. Chuck’s character was solid, the make up done well, the plot took different turns than expected while delivering great messages. There were some hiccups in how relationships were resolved but otherwise from my experience I would rate this film with 4.7/5 tacos.