"All Is Lost"

[jim trandel]

Saw the movie and enjoyed it! I did reflect on what I would do if making a journey similar to what was shown in the movie. If I were to solo, it would be a priority to be legal and have a radar w/alarm to stand watch while I rested. I would reef and bend on a storm jib at the sight of a storm. I would damage control ASAP by shoring up a hole with a blanket or cushion, etc. If I thought there was a possibility to abandon ship and had time such as Redford did, I would have my water, food and sextant ready for my exit. Like the previous post, the movie was an insight to a reactionary sailor rather than a sailor with a proactive mind set.

Best regards,
Jim

[joemerchant]

OK, so everyone who saw the movie.... Did you think he lived or died at the end?

[tjr818]

Okay, maybe we don't know why his there, or anything else about him, but do we really need to know?
I heard this on NPR over the weekend and it changed my mind. listen to it:

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/12/249975711 ... -his-roots

[Bill Goldsmith]

Call me a curmudgeon. I know one theme expressed here and in reviews is "he did everything right, and still almost died." My first reaction was: Really??? How could someone do so many things wrong and still make it as long as he did?? At first I blamed the writers and producers, but then I thought otherwise. Maybe it was intended to be about an average guy, an average sailor, with maybe average coastal sailing skills, who ventured offshore with way below average ocean skills and preparation. And that's where the movie starts.

Spoiler alert: When he ventured forward to the foredeck in a full blown storm to (belatedly) rig his storm jib, and proceeded to get washed overboard, he was dead. Period. The movie should have ended there. He was already exhausted, and to show a man of that age successfully haul himself back on deck without a ladder in those seas was pure fantasy. Heck, even a fit man or woman many years younger, with crew on board to assist, is very unlikely to survive an untethered COB in those conditions. An exhausted, dehydrated, not terribly fit 77 year old solo sailor without a PFD is simply not getting back aboard after an untethered COB in those conditions. At least, don't plan on it... I read somewhere that you should treat solo offshore sailing as though falling overboard is sudden death. Like falling off a 5000 foot cliff. You take EVERY precaution to stay on board. Anyone disagree?

After that scene I actually started to enjoy the movie, because I had to suspend disbelief and accept it as a fantasy, a bad dream. Then I stopped making mental lists of all the fatal errors and just watched the movie. Hey, you asked!!!!

[Skeep]

Well, I must recant my earlier suspicions of this film and say that I really did enjoy it despite all the grief and grist that I find with Robert Redford as a rule.

It was artistic and interesting. Makes you wonder quite a bit. It made me pause to recall the effects of dehydration, exposure and cumulative fatigue, and how I would fare in such circumstances. Also cautioned me about thinking I would do better!

Had to go to Washington DC to even see the film! It was worth the metro ride. But I wonder where was the EPIRB?

[Adamhagan]

My review: SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF

I went into the film cautiously optimistic...prepared to give Hollywood a lot of grace.

But there is a limit:

#1: Anyone who has read Stephen Callahan's Adrift would agree, Copyright infringement. Except; Callahan was a prepared and talented sailor who had seconds to abandon ship yet survived 76 days! They gave no mention to the book, from which they obviously based the movie.

#2: You don't wait to rig a storm jib in 20ft seas...by then you should be hove-to taking stress off the rig. When it does come down, you cut it free.

#3: Who buys a sextant and doesn't take it out of the plastic?

I could go on but keys might fly off of my computer.

[VegaIII]

I have tried not to reply until now, but cannot resist.

If you see this as a movie about sailing, you are missing the entire point of the film. Sailing is simply a vehicle for the protrayal of a man who is independent, successful (how else could he have a nice cruising boat), in very good physical shape, has good practical skills, is daring, and handles stress extremely well. (Just to name a few of the things that we can infer from observing him). Interestingly, we are not given any clues about his spiritual side except at the end of the film, which, as others have pointed out, is ambiguous. And yet, notwithstanding all of this, he fails. He must come to terms with that failure and accept his own mortality.

I have been a sailor for over 60 years. I have been in some very difficult and frightening situations on my own boat and with others on other boats. Situations which might well have been handled better by "our man" (in the film we don't even know his name). But what the film did for me--but clearly not everyone else--was to get me to think about how I am going to face that time that comes to all of us when we must face the "end" whether on the ocean, while hiking, or in a hospital bed.

I found it incredibly compelling and thought provoking.

P.S. Some of my sailing friends did what others on this thread have done and focused on the lack of an EPIRB, the life-raft being below deck, having all of the electronics clustered in one place, the fore deck scenes, the way he tried to patch the hole, etc. Too me the most unrealistic thing in the movie was that he only said F**k once!

[Mike Thompson]

VegaIII, An excellent post. Right on the mark! Mike

[jepomer]

Comparing "All is Lost" to "Gravity" one would not that both have their share of inaccuracies.

But "All is Lost" as a story fails to give the viewer enough information to understand why the character was out their in the first place. The initial voice over does not give enough for the viewer to suspend certain beliefs of the skills of an ocean cruising sailor.

If the story somehow gave us a clue as to why the person was out there, I could have whole heartedly accepted and enjoyed the story.

For me if the voice over simply added a line such as "My dearest wife, Since the day I lost you..." — implying that is is widowed, the boat was theirs and named after her. This would have have explained much of his preparations and reactions to situations. He would have had my sympathy. I could see myself doing several of the things he did.

But as played, I see an incompetent person who does not warrant my sympathy.

[John Danicic]

I was starting to wonder if I was the only one who did not think that "All Is Lost" was not at all about sailing.

Thanks to Vegalll for his well reasoned approach to look beyond the obvious.

I thought the movie's sailing/survival line was simply that. A method to convey the concept that no matter how competent and successful we have been in life, things change, stuff happens and mistakes are made as we get older. We will all be in "Our Man's" progressively declining position that is, if we do not make a big, fatal blunder sooner. Little blunders add up. Indeed, blunders are part of life. Be it never getting in the habit of wearing your seat belt to not watching your cholesterol as it rises through the years. Some are subtile mistakes still unknown and unknowable, tied with fate and some many people warn you against over and over again but are ignored until it is too late.

Sometimes the mistakes start to pile up on each other as they did for "Our Man" and the result is the same as a lifetime smoking. Pick your poison, the result is the same in the end barring genetic dispositions.

I think the interesting thing about the movie is this older man, chose to continue doing what he obviously has always done. His equipment was old and his reactions might have been a bit slow but he showed capacity to continue; to survive until he didn't. Is that not life? We will all be there. Some will have the good sense to give up solo sailing in the Indian Ocean but only to make mistakes in a Great Lake. Some will nobly give up driving cars only to fall on the way to a toilet in the assisted living center.

You can't hold it against a person, any person who dies as they lived. The craftiest, oldest, wild animals out there can only be so crafty, so careful, so strong, so brave for only so long before they eventiually lose their edge, make mistakes and succumb to a predator, rival or weather. Humans are the same. We are all, "Our Man" whether we like it or not..

[tjr818]

VERY good John. I know my wife has never asked me why I am out there sailing. I'll have her read that to help her understand.

[Gary H]

A film is a work of art - It's purpose is to stir emotions. Art often impacts different people in different ways - which is part of its beauty. The lively discussion here reflects that. I enjoy reading about the emotional reactions of this board to the film, no matter how different they may be.

The artists job is not to recreate or document reality. A good painting, film, sculpture, etc never does that. That is the job of the textbook writer, not the filmmaker/artist. As sailors, our tendency is to analyze the details for authenticity - doing so, misses the point of the film. Since seeing the film, I have reflected much on the emotional experience of Our Man. To me that means the film succeeded.

I have seen paintings of sailboats that stirred my emotions while the boats depicted were so distorted, they would never sail.