The newest addition to my Movies You Might Not Know list is the 2013 drama “All Is Lost,” starring Robert Redford as a man who could easily be a decades-older version of Hubbell Gardiner, the character he played in “The Way We Were.” But instead of being surrounded by other privileged people on a yacht, he’s completely alone somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
Our Man (the only name provided for him in the credits) is awakened by water spewing through a hole in the cabin, caused by a container that fell off a cargo ship. It’s clear that Our Man is a skilled sailor as he doesn’t panic while devising a solution to fix the problem. But that’s not all he has to deal with. The salt water that leaked in ruined the boat’s electronics, so he can’t even make a mayday call. On top of that, Mother Nature whacks him with a violent storm that tosses him around and causes more damage.
Throughout nearly the entirety of the adventure, Our Man is silent. Unlike Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” speaking to a volleyball he named Wilson, Redford never explains what he’s doing or how he’s feeling. We’re given no clues about who he is other than the wedding band he wears. We know nothing of his backstory, other than he’s wealthy enough to afford a well-stocked boat. We see no flashbacks, no loved ones worrying on land, no exposition at all other than his struggle to stay alive.
Carrying a movie of such physical strain and emotional weight would be quite a challenge for any actor, but Redford (77 years old when the movie was made) musters all his talents to make it work and gain our empathy. Words are unnecessary — his frustration is readily apparent in the grimaces and scowls that cross Redford’s face.
He gets a noble assist from writer/director JC Chandor, who made his feature film debut with “Margin Call” two years earlier. In “All Is Lost,” Chandor uses his camera to contrast the vastness of the ocean surrounding Our Man with the claustrophobic feel of trying to ride out a storm in the boat’s cabin. At times, he sticks with a static shot of Redford sitting and thinking, trying to figure out how to navigate his way out of this life-and-death situation.
I wish I had seen “All Is Lost” in its original run on a big screen, which no doubt offered an even better perspective on this man alone in the sea with no land in sight. But I’m glad I finally caught up with it on home video so I can add it to my Movies You Might Not Know list and give it an 8.5 out of 10.
By the way, if you’re looking for a companion piece to “All Is Lost,” try “Adrift.” It stars Shailene Woodley (“Divergent,” “The Fault In Our Stars,” “Big Little Lies”) as a young woman who has to sail a boat from Australia to the US by herself after her boyfriend (Sam Ciaflin from “Daisy Jones and the Six,” several “Hunger Games” sequels, and the “Snow White and the Huntsman” franchise) is hurt early in the voyage. Woodley does a nice, deft job of her own demanding role.