There is something extremely daunting about surviving at sea. How would you face the difficult challenge? Mother Nature can be particularly relentless in the middle of the ocean. You might be thinking that the new movie ‘Adrift’ is just another survival tale. What separates it from the pack is that it involves a love story too. In order for the true-life adventure to work, you need a strong leading lady. Shailene Woodley is perfectly suited to take on the role. The actress has a free-spirit quality to her personality as well as the physical prowess required throughout the harrowing ordeal. Director Baltasar Kormakur (Everest) never sugarcoats the miserable conditions his star must endure. Woodley’s gritty performance anchors ‘Adrift’ as a must-see survival drama.
The year is 1983 where the story starts off in the beautiful island of Tahiti. Tami Oldham (Woodley) works on a marina when she meets Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin) sailing his boat into port. They are naturally drawn to each other. Richard is captivated by Tami’s wild spirit and Tami is attracted to Richard’s love for the sea. Kormakur skillfully toggles from their burgeoning relationship in Tahiti to facing the giant hurricane. The storm happened to be Hurricane Raymond, which quickly turned into a category 4 with peak winds at 145 mph and waves three-stories high. Flashbacks show Tami and Richard accepting an offer of $10,000 to sail a British couple’s yacht from Tahiti to San Diego. At the beginning of their voyage, they are blissfully happy until the inevitable storm hits the sailboat like a sledgehammer.
When they set sail from Tahiti, they were headed right into the path of the hurricane just three weeks later. The images of the 40-foot waves descending on the tiny vessel are terrifying. Tami gets knocked unconscious and hour’s later wakes up to a cabin full of water and navigational equipment in disrepair. This is where Tami fixes the sail and pumps water out of the cabin. She rescues Richard on a floating dinghy and mends his ghastly wounds. It is Tami that has to make all the decisions. She rations the remaining food on board. They both take pleasure eating a finger full of peanut butter. She also has to make the decision to turn north and try to reach Hawaii. When she is close to running out of food, she jumps into the water and spear fishes. Do not dismiss these scenes as an actor being replaced by a stand-in. Kormakur is a director that likes to put his actors through the ringer. It is apparent Woodley is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in these physically-demanding scenes.
Before you go to see ‘Adrift,’ I urge you not to Google too many details of the story. Some aspects of the story were altered for dramatic effect. It makes perfect sense when you consider that Tami’s ordeal lasted 41 days at sea. The chemistry between Woodley and Claflin feels genuine. The flashbacks of the couple falling in love in Tahiti give the film its emotional impact. You cannot help but think it is their love that keeps their hope alive. You soon realize that it is the strength and perseverance of Tami that keeps them from giving up. When the camera takes an aerial shot of the sailboat floating in the massive ocean, it looks existential. When you consider every decision Tami makes can decide her fate, it is powerful. It seems as though she is battling Mother Nature whose sole purpose is to kill her.
‘Adrift’ has it all. It is a film about love, adventure and survival. It is always a pleasure to watch an empowered female in a movie. Woodley is perfectly cast in the lead role and happens to be one of the producers of the film. She braves the elements and makes ‘Adrift’ a fantastic voyage.
