Caution: semi-spoilers ahead.
At first glance, a movie with a limited set of characters, with a bleak title, and with very little dialog doesn't seem to be a formula for success. However, despite these apparent drawbacks, the recent film, All Is Lost, presents an effective metaphor for the arc of life. The movie begins with a man on a solo journey in a vast ocean. One wonders, Why would he be there? Why would he be all alone? Does he have a deathwish to attempt sailing without a crew? It becomes clear that each of us are sailing alone on our own ocean. Each of us are at some point along that journey. Some of us appear to be closer to the beginning; some of us appear to be closer to the end. But appearances can be deceptive—the length of our individual journeys are unknown. Some of us will lead long lives that come to a peaceful end. Some of our journeys will be cut short by circumstances out of our control, by accident or by disease. Events along the way may seem random or poorly timed. Regardless of whether we are ready, smooth seas will give way to storms. At times, the universe itself seems to conspire against us. Murphy's Law, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, becomes the dominant force in the universe. The sequence of events in All Is Lost follows that familiar downward spiral.
Each of us, as mortal humans, go from birth to youth; from youth to old age; and onwards toward the inevitable ending, death. At birth we are thrown into a hostile environment. We are faced with daily challenges. We succeed. We fail. We reach out to others for help along the way. Beginning with our mothers, someone is there to give us sustenance. She, and then other teachers, show us how to use the tools we will need to survive. Our species has the ability to adapt and to learn new skills that are necessary for our survival. We all push forward on our journey. Along the way, we build safety nets using the memories crafted from our overall experience. We don't individually possess the collective experience of the whole, but we can learn via books/language/mathematics to read charts and graphs; we have the capacity to learn what we need to know in the moment. Perhaps, cramming for a final exam will be enough to pass. Likewise, Our Man may not have been prepared to sail without the tools offered by modern technology. He is forced to go back to the beginning and learn to use a sextant. Luckily his library has a basic guide. Notably, when opening the box containing the sextant, he sets aside a gift card...are there memories that are too painful to deal with at that moment? Sometimes, it is best to keep unwanted thought intrusions at bay simply by pushing them deeper into the subconscious.
Events build on themselves, ultimately sending his well-equipped, beautiful, and roomy yacht to the bottom of the ocean. At that moment it's clear Our Man's world has become much smaller. This is a forced downsizing, very much like moving from a nice house in the suburbs to a home for frail and aged, or into a nursing home. His new environs are a lot smaller, but they will have to do for now. As an afterthought, and just before the yacht sinks, he makes last minute visits from the raft to the boat. He adds to his provisions aboard the raft. One presumes he's paring down to the bare essentials and only taking the items necessary for his survival. Once on the raft, Murphy's law raises its head again. The man finds his water supply has been contaminated by an open valve. Again, he must use his wits to avoid dying of thirst. Once that crisis is solved there are more waiting. He finds he is much closer to the harsh reality: eat or be eaten. At sea, humans can quickly find that they are not at the top of the food chain. This is beautifully illustrated by some of the best frames/composition found within this film. These are shots taken from deep in the water looking up at the circular life raft. The sharks are beginning to circle. The outline of the life raft presents itself as if it were a single cell. Its thin membranes providing limited, but vital protection.
In the penultimate sequence, Our Man continues to plot his position until he crosses the heavily traveled sea lanes. Unfortunately, his presence there goes unnoticed. He fires signal flares in the dark that should have been seen, but aren't. Sometimes, help seems to be at hand. Why do some voyagers get rescued? Why are some forms of cancer curable, while for others there is no hope? It seems random, but C'est la vie, that's life. Our Man has limited rations and few options. His imminent death is looming. We are mortal, too. Our death is looming.
I liked that this movie gives no deus ex machina. The man doesn't stop to pray and ask for help or ask for divine intervention. He has got himself into this predicament, and it will be up to him to get out of it.
We didn't make the rules in this universe. We may not even know them, but we're expected to play by them. Violating any of the laws can have brutal consequences. Those who work on towers, poles, or those who climb Everest/K2 face exposure to heights; they are keenly aware of the consequences of breaking the law of gravity. If one fall could end it all, then one begins to wonder about the limits of existence. In the end, we will have to come to terms with defeat. Afterall, everyone dies. If suffering becomes too great, can we skip out on the final battle? Is another journey waiting for us at the end of this one? Is there a multi-dimensional doorway that leads to new planes of existence? Will we take our experiences in this life into the next? These are the great existential questions brought forward, albeit thinly guised in metaphor, by this film.
We struggle to understand why are we here?. We don't know exactly how we got here; perhaps, it is only by chance—an exact determination requires following an indeterminately long chain of events with infinitely many possible bifurcations. Perhaps, we will come to understand our biology through simulations using our digital technology to get closer to understanding the origins of life. Perhaps, evidence for multiple universes in other dimensions will be found, if only via mathematics and higher physics. The great existential question of life after death will likely not be found through scientific means. At the end of the day, we may end up as worm's meat. Finito. Perhaps, we cling to hope that there is one last doorway to go through. Regardless, our day-to-day contacts with our fellow travelers may be enough of a distraction to keep us living in the here and now. Life has some hard edges, but it is also a really beautiful experience to be a sentient life form on this planet at this moment.
tl/dr In my opinion, this is the best in the genre of several recent films dealing with the meaning of life and existence. I place it alongside von Trier's Melancholia. In this film, Redford is wonderful as Our Man who faces a series of existential crises with courage and determination.