Cast Away is a Master Class in Story Telling

Recently I watched Cast Away for the first time. And then I immediately reworked the outline for my WIP (work in progress). I think Cast Away is a visual writer’s manual.

We start out with a snapshot, or a small, curated scrapbook, of Chuck’s (Tom Hanks) life before the storm (no pun intended). We learn he is a successful trainer at Fed-Ex, a beloved and respected member of his family, a little quirky — he once stole a kid’s bike to deliver a package on time (which shows us in one swift brushstroke the duality of him, and what his work means to him). And he has a fiancé, Kelly (Helen Hunt). She’s a PhD candidate. All of these facts are laid out in scenes that last just long enough to show the viewer who and why Chuck is. In his final “before” scene, Chuck and Kelly drive off to the airport. Chuck has been paged to work (the pager, among other small details, indicates the time period. By the time the movie was released in 2000 or 2001, Chuck would have had a cell phone if it were to take place in the current moment. But the pager reminds us that it’s the 90s). In a dark, street-lit moment, he holds the car keys in his hand as he and Kelly exchange presents in the car. The keys are attached to a swiss army pocket knife, which is the sort of thing that would come in handy on a desert island. Yet he cannot bring the keys with him — not only is he blissfully unaware of his fate, but Kelly needs them to get home. And, speaking of Kelly, there is a tender, shared moment in which Chuck hands her an engagement ring shaped box. He says he planned to give her the gift tonight, but it would have to wait for New Year’s. she looks at it, an uncertain expression crossing her face. He says goodbye and leaves for the plane.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say he isn’t home for New Year’s. This is part of the storytelling, the narrative of the release of the movie. We know from the previews and the back of the movie that Chuck is about to be stranded. Without the pocket knife, and without any way to contact Kelly or anyone else. There is always something extra heart-wrenching about what the characters do not. I wanted to scream at him and Kelly to kiss a little longer, to savor the pre-proposal, for Kelly to see how much she is loved.

Chuck sits on the plane with his coworkers for an agonizing (to the audience) before the crash happens. In visually stunning horror, we watch as the plane succumbs to the elements of air, water, and fire, and as Chuck becomes the only survivor, which is a miracle in and of itself.

The scene lasts an uncomfortably long time, no doubt drawn out purposefully, expertly. Just when it seems like it is over, Chuck floats forever on his yellow life raft, frightened and freezing, into his new world. Over the next hour and a half, we watch as Chuck’s survival instinct kicks in and he adjusts to his new home. He learns how to get water, nutrition from coconuts, how to fish, and how to build. Packages wash up and we watch as receives the objects that will light his way: a net from a dress, blades from ice skates. A dead body, one of the crew he crashed with, washes up and helps him process a part of his grief by holding a small funeral. Finally, he receives a volleyball, his new companion and confidant in this lonely world.

Although watching a man alone on an island with few instances of dialogue is not for everyone, I think the film did a fantastic job at showing how Chuck’s survival skills have kicked in, as well as divine intervention. Not only is he the lone survivor, but he tries to commit suicide and it does not work. This leads to him building a new raft so he can go out to sea to find help. Of course, he could die out at sea this time. He is the hero of this story and must take this risk. In the water, he experiences another storm, and his makeshift sail flies away. The viewer is uncertain. Will he make it, or will his efforts fail?

As Cast Away is more than twenty years old, I find it safe to spoil — he does indeed get rescued, more than four years after he arrived on the island. After the rescue is the most painful part of the movie, for me. An entire movie could have been made about his reintegration in society, which was just as well done, if not more, than the scrapbook of the before times. This is perfect because it leaves the viewer off on a positive note — not to say a positive ending, but a feeling that the movie has done it’s due diligence in the emotions and heart-tugging department.

Here, all of Chuck’s senses are put on a tilt-a-whirl as he reunites with people from his past — strangers now — and food. Could you imagine eating nothing but fish and coconuts for almost five years, and then being presented with a buffet that overwhelms not only your eyes and your sense of smell and taste, but likely would destroy your stomach/biochemistry? At night in his hotel room, Chuck forgoes the warm and cozy California King and lays on the floor in a raft of pillows and sheets, a scene that is so small but does so much. This is the strange new world, now.

At a welcome home ceremony-slash-media circus, Chuck anxiously awaits reuniting with Kelly, when her husband comes out to tell him that she can’t bear to see him. That it’s too much, too soon. We watch as Chuck watches his former beloved sob in the parking lot.

What if he had never left? What if the plane hadn’t crashed, or derailed from course, and the rescue team had found him?

In one of the final scenes of the movie, we do get to see Chuck and Kelly reunite at the home she shares with her husband and daughter. For me, the most interesting aspect of the scene is that she and Chuck don’t mention the engagement ring. They don’t talk about the life they would have shared. But the not talking conveys so much more than talking about it ever would. In her garage, Kelly presents Chuck with his/their old car. Removing a few toys and a car seat, she shows him she’s been driving around in it. What memories she must have when she drives it. She kept him close, but now she has closure and can let this last piece of him go.

I think that Kelly would be headed for divorce after this. But it’s not her story. She and Chuck are over. She’s headed for a new world now, even if only internally. When she parts with the car, she parts with the fantasy of the what if?

In the last scene, Chuck leans against the truck at a literal crossroads, the world at his feet. A stranger stops and gives hm directions to Canada and Arizona. We don’t see what he chooses, and we don’t need to. Now, he can go anywhere. He is forever changed by his experiences, as is the world around him, whether they know it or not.

So why is Cast Away a master class in storytelling? It’s a two-and-a-half-hour movie that relies almost exclusively on showing (there’s hardly enough dialogue to tell). It leads the viewer to their own conclusions. It is highly balanced, and visually compelling.

Also, it stars Tom Hanks.