新课标高一英语课文背景荒岛余生简介.doc

Robert Zemeckis’ CAST AWAY is a strong example of what can be done with a veteran actor and a pretty solid script. Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland, an executive for FedEx who is stranded on a remote island in the Pacific, is in top form, and the writing by William Broyles, Jr. tells the story without straining itself with worry over the premise. Hanks is remarkable here. Of course the story that will get the most attention is how he and his friend Bob Zemeckis suspended production halfway through the film, so that Hanks could shed 50 or so pounds and let his hair grow. Sure enough, Chuck Noland reappears looking like John the Baptist, spearing fish expertly, even crouching like a native would – the survivor in the wild. In every scene it seems like Hanks is not surrounded by a large crew; he simply acts naturally, holding his expressive mouth and casting his expressive eyes in ways that engage us and always carry the plot further. Perhaps he has not chosen widely different roles in his career, but Tom Hanks certainly assumes authority up there on the screen, and he just gets more watchable with the years. The story is also one of the stars. No, it will not interest viewers who demand intense action or explosions, though the plane crash sequence is very well executed and memorable. I like that the script does not have Chuck Noland talking to himself unnecessarily. When he talks or screams aloud, it is warranted; when Noland needs to preserve his sanity, he creates a companion: a package from the plane cargo, a volleyball he dubs “Wilson,” painting in a face with his own blood. It’s remarkable indeed that we actually begin to empathize with this volleyball, or at least with the traits with which Noland has personified it. From the tragic opera of his marooning, Hanks is able to cause his character to sift comic moments – a nice touch and an optimistic stance from which to view the world. Many stars attract an audience merely by attaching their names to a project; Hanks is t