All is Lost doesn't let anything get in the way of the primacy of its survival story: not even words, or story details. After a brief prologue wherein we hear the main character apologize to some unknown loved one, the film continues with barely anything said. We never really find out who he's apologizing to, or why, or what circumstances led him to be so alone in the middle of the ocean. Because the film knows that it doesn't really matter. There is a man fighting for his life. What else do you really need?
The film follows a man (whose name is never identified, played by Robert Redford) on a solo ocean voyage on his yacht. He wakes up to find that his boat has collided with a loose shipping container, punching a hole through the side. Water has entered the cabin, destroying all the electronics. With no radio or navigation, the man has to rely on his wits to survive a series of challenges set on him by the unforgiving ocean.
The film calls to mind another recent film: Gravity. Like that movie, All is Lost is about a person trying to survive in an inhospitable environment following some catastrophe. The scale is much smaller, of course, but the drama, if anything, feel even larger. The film takes a much more rigorous approach to the solitude of its main character, letting him mostly stay silent apart from cries for help and the occasional expletive. It expresses something deeper in its silence, the lack of stimulus bringing the character's predicament into sharp focus.
The film is a succession of crises, following the man as he deals with them with varying degrees of success. There's nothing more to it than that. There's nothing more that's needed. The film gets to the most primal of all conflicts. Here is a man battling against the inevitability of death, doing everything he can, no matter how futile, to extend his life long enough to get some glimpse of salvation. As simple as it might seem, the film is able to sum up the entirety of human existence in about a hundred minutes. In the end, it’s really all just about staying alive for another day.
The film relays this theme eloquently, in spite of the lack of words. The camera moves poetically, zeroing in on the man's desperation, before rising up to highlight just how futile his situation really is. He's an orange speck in an endless sea of blue, utterly alone in his struggle to survive. Robert Redford does a tremendous job in the film's only role. Even without dialogue, his presence suggests so much of the character. The way he moves implies a vitality that has slipped away, and the lines on his face conveys a history of loss.
All is Lost is evidence of how little a film really needs to be great. This is as simple as it gets. It's one man struggling against nature, fending off the death that he knows is coming anyway. By stripping away everything else, the film gets to the core of human experience. We may not be out in the ocean, but we're all doing the same thing. We're all fighting to stay alive a little bit longer, holding out for the outstretched hand that might save us.
My Rating:
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