“We live and we die by time. And we must not commit the sin of losing our track on time.”

- Chuck Noland

Cast Away

The story presented in the movie ‘’Cast Away’’, made by Robert Zemeckis, talks about a man who is called Chuck Noland. He works for FedEx enterprise. He is in a long-term relationship with Kelly Frears. During the Christmas dinner with his relatives, Chuck receives a call by FedEx which tells him that he has to travel to Malaysia to solve some problems for his firm. Before Chuck boards the plane, he exchanges gifts with Kelly. As they are flying through a violent storm, an onboard explosion makes the plane crash in the Pacific Ocean. Chuck is able to escape from the sinking plane and is saved by an inflatable life-raft.Chuck, after his awakening, realizes that he has landed on a desert island. The FedEx packages are all scattered on the beach. He initially tries to signal for rescue and makes an escape attempt with remnants of his life-raft, but he cannot get over the coral reef. During the first attempt to make a fire, Chuck receives a deep wound to his hand. So feeling a very strong pain, he begins to throw several object on the shore, including Wilson volleyball which will become his closest friend on the island ever since. Four years later Chuck is dramatically thinner, bearded, his hair is longer, and he is wearing a loincloth. He has become good at spearing fish and lighting fires. He also has regular conversation and arguments with Wilson. After a long time, Chuck decides to  build a sort of raft with some wood.At last he is able to go beyond the reef. He has to endure a terrible storm for some days, when, finally, he is found adrift by a passing cargo ship. Upon returning to civilization, Chuck is welcomed by FedEx’s manager but he is looking forward to meeting Kelly. Unfortunately, Kelly is already married to another man who wants to hide Kelly from Chuck, but he meets Kelly once again. Kelly thinks that her new husband and her daughter are more important than Chuck’s love for her so he decides to change his life completely, starting all over again.

Protagonist: Chuck Noland(Tom Hanks)

Chuck Noland is an employee of the company FedEx, who travels worldwide solving productivity problems at its depots. In fact, at the beginning, we can see him working with Russian people, teaching them the importance of being in time and working quickly for the deliveries.

He’s the kind of man dedicated to his job and to its profits . He shares his private life with his girlfriend Kelly who’s very fond of. When he finds himself trapped on the island his personality changes day after day and in the end he takes on the typical features of the lone and wild man. As being the only survivor, he’s completely alone, so he starts talking with a ball that he calls “Wilson” as if it was his alter ego.

Kelly Frears(Helen Hunt)

She’s Chuck’s girlfriend: she’s a University student, because she will take an exam soon in order to get her degree. She’s in love with Chuck too although sometimes she feels really alone because of his constant absence due to his job. When the accident happens she abandons her studies, too shocked for the loss of her boyfriend and then she has a new life with another man although she still loves Chuck.

Wilson is a ball. The main fact that makes it important for Chuck is that it’s one of the packages wrecked with him on the island. One day, while Chuck’s trying to light a fire, he hurts himself and throws the ball away dirtying it with blood, but in doing that he suddenly notices that the stain on the ball reminds him of a human face. So he starts to call it Wilson (after the ball’s brand) and begins to talk with it.