Cast Away

When the family asks me about a particular movie that I had seen, whether it was on the TV or at the theater, they usually get more than what they bargained for. At least I hold their interest and their emotions show in either laughter or tears. Here's my attempt to write what I saw on TV. I'm doing this to improve my humble writing skills. If you have already seen this movie, please read what I have written anyway, not so much for the story itself, but for how I wrote this account. The movie was already in progress when I clicked on the TV. Please rate and give me your comments, pros and cons. This is a learning experience. rather than just recounting what I saw. Thank you so much in advance for reading this. Please remember to rate.

Cast Away

Part 1

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain outside my opened bedroom window. The constant dripping of water coming from a corner of the gutter on the house had a soothing refrain that was like music to my ears. I knew I wasn’t going to go back to sleep for a while, so I clicked on the TV with my handy remote and flipped through the channels stopping at a movie already in progress. I realized that it was a movie starring Tom Hanks titled Cast Away. It’s about a man who survived a plane crash and wound up as the only inhabitant of a tiny Island. I never got around to seeing the movie in a regular theater. I came in at the part when Tom Hanks was absorbed in painting a face on a salvaged basketball, using his own blood. When he finished his project, he called it Wilson, which was the name written on the ball. He embedded the round face onto a reasonably straight tree limb and stuck the branch into the ground. Now he had a buddy to talk to. He then went about the continuous trial of starting a fire by rubbing a stick on another piece of wood with kindling material near the point of friction. He kept rubbing the stick back and forth talking to himself and looking at Wilson every so often, and then directing his ramblings toward his new friend. After some failed attempts, he succeeded in starting the fire and jumped around excitedly at his magnificent achievement. He danced about spreading the fire around, lighting up the surrounding area. Then he scooped up some flaming wood with a long stick and offered it to the sky as if to give thanks that he was going to survive. He kept that fire going throughout the night.

In the next scene, four years have passed. We see Tom Hanks in a long beard. He kept himself alive by finding shelter from the elements. I didn’t pay attention to what his humble abode was made of. He hunted and fished for his daily nutrition and quenched his thirst with captured rainwater. It was a small Island that he drifted onto, so I guess there must have been some edible plants there, too. His only possession was the clothes on his back, now reduced to shorts and he held onto a watch that opened up to reveal a tiny photo of his sweetheart, the girl at home that he planned to marry.

The scene changes again, and we find our survivor slowly awakening from a deep and lonely sleep as he lay under a lean-to near the waters’ edge. His ears pick up the noise of something close by. When he investigates he discovers that the noise was caused by the tide hitting a piece of metal over and over again. The thin sheet of metal, obviously came from another wreck, and had drifted to shore like so much debris. A sudden stroke of insight comes over the survivor. He rejoices at his find as something that was going to set him free. He then sets out to build a raft using logs made from the surrounding trees. The man’s only cutting tool is one that he made from an ice-skate that had also washed ashore. He painstakingly makes the ropes that will fasten the logs together. He also makes two large oars to stir and push his vessel, and he affixes the precious sheet metal to the raft forming a sturdy sail. Lastly, he stakes in his pal, Wilson, to the far side of the raft.

When he was satisfied that everything was in readiness, he sets out one early morning to sail the sea. He stocks the raft with the bare essentials. He slowly starts out and struggles with the oars. The churning waves are relentless in their attempt to keep him from going over the crest, which will free the raft to face the open sea. I enjoyed this thrilling part as he finally overtakes a giant ominous wave and rides over it. I mentally applauded as I reacted to his emotion of joy at accomplishing this feat.

At sea, he spends countless days and nights rowing the raft. When at rest, he would just let the raft drift peacefully along. On occasion, he would dive off the raft to fish using a spear that he had made while on the Island. He caught rainwater to drink. He directed the flow of water into a cup that he had also made when he cut the top off a rubber ball that he had found. During one of the times while he was asleep on the raft, a large carousing and frolicking whale came nearby. It was amusing as well as astonishing to see the hero of this movie turn over on the raft and come face to face with the whale, which by then had rested alongside the craft, and both of them made eye contact. The whale was so close that he could have reached out and touched that large mammal.

The endless days at sea starts to take a toll on our survivor. The raft is also showing signs of deterioration from the pounding of the waves. Our man is again asleep, when Wilson falls off his perch on the stick and drops off into the water. Our survivor awakes to watch his buddy bobbing up and down in the water and slowly drifting away. He dives off the raft to rescue his friend, while holding on to a rope that was attached to the raft. He desperately swims toward his buddy, the only companion that he could socialize with, but it is in vain. Mr. Wilson was too far ahead and floats away. Discouraged, our hero has no recourse, but to swim back to the raft.

Our story continues with part 11, "Cast Away- Part 11"