Warning - all reviews could contain spoilers, this one definitely does in the last paragraph.
This is a remarkable film, featuring only a boat and a 77 year old man with blonde hair. It starts with Robert Redford on his yacht, with no hint as to how he got there. We don't know who he his or what he's doing. He could have terminal cancer, he could be a millionaire or about to reunite with his long lost son, we don't know. He doesn't even have a name, and is just listed in the credits as Our Man.
He hardly speaks at all in the whole film. There's a little bit of talk on the radio, but this is strictly functional, and there's no attempt to tell the story via his monologue. If they wanted to do that, he would have had a dog to explain things to. There's no dog.
You need to watch quite carefully to notice things, as it's all explained by visual cues. This is OK though, as there's no dialogue you have a lot of time to concentrate on the picture. For example, at one point he heads towards a shipping channel, which is made very clear to the audience by repeated looks at his map where a series of X marks on the map show his approach to the channel.
Our Man is pretty resourceful. He starts whittling a broom handle in a mechanism to bale out the ship before you even know that he is going to do any baling. He's one step ahead of the viewer, and as you watch in admiration you're trying to work out what he's up to. He has a slightly weary air about him, but never gives up and meets each new crisis with dogged resolve and a grim fatalism. As he floats around you get a sense of the vastness of the ocean, and it's very vast indeed. Just at one point the film gets a bit Life of Pi with some CGI sharks circling him, which doesn't last too long then it's back to a standard marooning.
The only hint of any connection to friends or family is when Our Man is unpacking a special old wooden box of navigation equipment. In the box there's an envelope with a card in, which to me looked like some sort of birthday card. He picks it up, then shrugs and puts it down to pick up his sextant (or whatever it is). He never returns to the envelope. In a film with so little human contact this is quite a big moment, and very eloquently shows Our Man's lack of sentimentality. Even his message-in-a-bottle doesn't have much warmth to it.
I'm not sure if Robert Redford's acting is brilliant, or if in fact there's any acting involved at all. This film might have worked just as well with any old man playing the lead. He just goes about his business on the ship, in a fairly natural way, and the power of each situation lends gravity to his impassive face.
He's looking spritely for a 77 Year Old, but I did notice he dozes off an awful lot. I suppose some of this is from exhaustion, but in the second half in particular nearly every scene begins with Our Man coming out of another long nap.
Spoiler alert - in the end he nearly drowns, but is suddenly saved when you see a bright light and a hand reaching down. To me this is actually just a metaphor for him dying and accepting his death, and he's not really saved. Though sadder, this interpretation is more satisfying in completing the story then the corny ending of a last minute rescue.
In conclusion, this was a very good film. Probably not the best kind of thing to put on at a party, but good to get into on your own.
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