Cast away [DVD]

Tom Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose workaholic tendencies doesn’t leave him much time for his family or long suffering girlfriend (Helen Hunt). When a horrific plane crash (executed with ferocious intensity by director Robert Zemeckis) leaves him stranded on a deserted island, the time obsessed Noland must now learn how to live at a different pace. Zemeckis and Hanks (who conceived the original idea) carefully map out the daily toils Noland must now face, from how to get food and water, to the growing sense of isolation the solitary Noland struggles with. Screen writer William Broyles Jnr’s solution to his loneliness is to create an unlikely man Friday, a volleyball washed ashore and christened Wilson by the grateful cast away. Zemeckis wisely chooses to play out the island sequences in virtual silence, doing away with most of the film score and Hanks dialogue. “Cast Away” inevitably becomes a familiar triumph of the human spirit tale, however it’s FedEx that ultimately triumphs, receiving one of the more generous product-placements in recent film memory. Cast includes Nick Searcy and Chris Noth.