All is Lost - or is it???

 I’ve always thought that simply messing about in boats is foolish in the extreme. Even boarding a ferry is portentous with the possibility of disaster, and discomfort is guaranteed. What Robert Redford is doing 1700 miles from nowhere in the Indian Ocean I don’t know – and in fact we don’t know as All is Lost resists the easy option of a back story to provide context and heighten emotions. It’s just one man in a boat; an incredibly crumpled Redford (at 77 doing all his own stunts) fighting for his survival. So no human interaction and little dialogue (except for a short voice-over at the start there is only one bellowed expletive). It’s a brave, spare and intense film and a terrific performance by man and boat.

Interesting to compare with other ‘one man’s fight for survival’ films such as Touching the Void or 127 Hours. There is one crucial difference; both of these films are recreations of real events – they did actually happen and audiences are constantly aware of this. All is Lost has to carry the additional burden of being ‘only’ a story and therefore the perception of realism is of even more importance. Members of the boating fraternity have apparently found twelve different ‘mistakes’ in the film. I and other landlubbers are blissfully unaware of course, and some of these errors are no doubt justifiable in terms of dramatic effect. But it is an irritating aspect of film and TV that if you are reasonably knowledgeable about a subject you constantly groan at the pointless gaffes (I swear that there was a woman in high heels perched on the north face of the Eiger in North Face).

So was he a bad yachtsman, or just plain unlucky, or both? It’s true that he seems ill prepared for emergencies – there is moment when he unpacks a brand new sextant and struggles to find the right way up. But he is dogged, determined and systematic and always finds a way to keep afloat and alive. This I suppose is the core of the film; keep on trying, overcome every obstacle. The process, the journey, the struggle is more important than the goal (safety / life). I can appreciate this in terms of my own brand of foolishness – walking alone through remote mountains. Getting to the summit is less important than what happens, plotting and plodding, on the way.


The ending is satisfyingly enigmatic – is all lost or did he survive? I wasn’t sure, so I asked two senior members of the Borderlines’ staff, people of immense filmy knowledge and wisdom. ‘Did he survive?’ ‘Of course!’ said one. ‘Durrr - of course not!’ said the other. At an early screening the director J C Chandor asked the audience the same question. It was 50 / 50, with no help from Chandor or Redford. Take your pick. Optimist – he made it. Pessimist – he died. For fans of the afterlife, the white light of the rescue boat could be the start of the final journey. Either way, you won’t find me on a boat any time soon.

Visceral thrills - North Face and The Wrestler

Seeing films one up against the other is one of the great pleasures of a festival. It's a random process which can throw up some interesting juxtapositions.

Living near Ludlow, I've seen North Face followed by The Wrestler in the space of a couple of days. They're both in their very different ways about extreme physical exertion - competitiveness pushed to the limits - about display and technique. I know nothing about mountain-climbing but the sequence in North Face in which the German climbing team accomplishes the traverse is truly breath-taking.

Achievement is measured by physical marks. In North Face it's a case of making marks on the mountain, hammering in pitons for the ropes in order to claw a few feet higher. And the climbers are dwarfed by it. As one of the wise old guides points out, it's not called Eiger (Ogre) for nothing. It looms above the hotel where the spectators wait, cruelly and randomly transformed by weather conditions and light.

Turning to the The Wrestler it's the fighters themselves - and Mickey Rourke's Randy 'The Ram' in particular - who provide the presence. He is colossal with his gleaming, steroid-pumped body and flowing mane and its his scars, carefully displayed and catalogued to young fans, that bear witness to a life in the ring.

As we see, many of the cuts are self-inflicted, the stunts theatrical, just as the young climbers choose to subject themselves to indescribable hardship in order to attain their goal; it doesn't diminish the pain or reduce the spectacle. Gripping stuff.

New Eyes

Hi there

Just a quick note to introduce myself. My name is James Clarke and I am the Course Co-ordinator for the Foundation Degree Film and Video course here at Hereford College of Arts.

First a note to thank Borderlines for giving my students the very useful opportunity for their films to be screened during the festival (Small Stories, Big Ideas). I hope the experience proves useful and productive all 'round. The course that we are running is still very new but is beginning to take ever greater strides. Our second year students are all homegrown and our first year students have come from further afield. The work the students have so far produced during this academic year has been eclectic and imaginative and as I type this they are all working away on their

Just yesterday I was remembering the first year that Borderlines ran and attending what was perhaps the very first screening of a film at a venue in Ross on Wye. How far the event has come.

Looking through the programme for this year I hope to catch some of the new and the old. Certainly the chance to see The Passion of Joan of Arc on the big screen is a major pull for me. I am also hoping to check in with North Face and Better Things. The film Fieldwork also fascinates. Finally, it's also really a thrill to see some former colleagues of mine showing their work also as part of the Local Filmmakers' Showcase.

Well, I'll sign off for now.
More soon.
James