Cast Away (2000)

Director : Robert Zemeckis.
Genere : Adventure / Drama.
Cast : Tom Hanks.
Rating : Classic.

Have you ever thought about going back to the beginning, where man is just himself? Can he survive without the modern gadgets and tools? What about electricity, pure water and clean cooked food? Man is a social being; so can he survive by his own. In “Cast Away” Tom Hanks, a time conscious busy man, happens to be on an isolated island far away from civilizations surviving a plane crash, having nothing but time. Four years of absolute solitude- without proper food, water or shelter. What can you expect on a small island in the middle of an ocean? Its man vs. nature. He has to start from the beginning – invent fire, make Stone Age tools, fishing, hunting etc to keep him alive.
Hope is the base of humanity, a little bit of “hop” can do the impossible. It accelerates our survival instincts. “The ship wreck piece”, his “ball-pal”, unopened parcels etc are all his symbols of hope and with it he finally decides to escape to civilization. Sometimes life will be more difficult than a hostile island to survive. The return of a long lost, supposedly dead man to his normal life won’t be that easy.
Tom Hanks with his outstanding performance made this movie unforgettable. Actually this is a one man show by Tom Hanks supported by the director Robert Zemeckis from behind. Half of the movie doesn’t have any dialogs, but Hanks made the film talk by itself. “Cast Away” is recommended as a must see for all Tom Hanks fans, if you are not one don’t worry this will turn you one.

City of God (2002)

Cidade de Deus (2002)

Director : Fernando Meirelles.
Genere : Crime.
Cast : Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Alice Braga.
Rating : Master piece

City of God tells the story from the poverty sunken slums of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is actually a battle field; survival comes with two choices, be a part of the crime element or let consumed by it. Li'l Zé (Leandro Firmino)growth from an angry child to a trigger happy, blood thirsty warlord give a brief but strong exposure to the crime world of Cidade de Deus. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) never expected anything from this slum, but his ticket to a better life came from the same battle field. He was offered a very risky job of taking pictures of the gangs and their activities by a newspaper. His dream of becoming a photographer and a better life depends on this performance. City of god is intense with heartless killings, blood trials, rape, and gang war all run and maintained by kids or mere teenagers. Throughout the story, poverty stands out as a reality and advocates for much of the happenings with unbelievable honesty. Is the pain of poverty strong enough to decay the deep-rooted humanity and romanticism even from a child’s sole, or is it just a reflection of the society.
City of god is a perfect package comes with stunning performance, fantastic visuals, and a well formatted screenplay. Director Fernando Meirelles’s approach with style and control is perfectly backed by the cinematographer César Charlone. Bráulio Mantovani’s work with the screenplay enables the smooth navigation between 60’s to 80’s through 70’s. But the real claps goes to the actors, mostly untrained kids, who takes us to a world of ultimate crime and mischief are the real heroes of this true story.