ReelBob: ‘Adrift’ ★★★

By Bob Bloom

Creating a survivor story based on a true event is a tricky enterprise.

Because the majority of filmgoers already know the outcome, you can’t build or sustain drama on the issue of the outcome.

So, how do you engage an audience into such a dilemma?

It’s not easy, but it has been accomplished. Take Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13.” Howard grabbed his audience by focusing on the people at NASA trying to devise ways to safely return the three astronauts in the capsule and on the professionalism of James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, who remained calm and worked with the personnel on the ground to concoct solutions.

In “Adrift,” director Baltasar Kormákur, working from a script by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell and David Branson Smith, focuses on the inner strength, the fortitude and determination of an individual to do whatever is necessary to survive.

“Adrift” is about Tami Oldman (Shailene Woodley, who also served as one of the movie’s producers) and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), who set sail from Tahiti to return a friend’s boat to San Diego.

Along the way, they sail into one of the strongest hurricanes in history. Their boat is badly damaged, and Richard is severely injured.

The task to save them falls on Tami, an adventurous 23-year-old, with sailing experience and a fiercely independent streak.

When Tami and Richard first meet, their attraction is nearly instantaneous. Over dinner one night on Richard’s boat, Tami asks him if he enjoys sailing.

Richard tells her not really because of the hardships: lack of sleep and food, sea sickness, the loneliness and, after time, the hallucinations.

Yet, he tells her, he finds peace on the water and a daily sense of rebirth.

The progression of their romance is, however, one of the movie’s weak aspects. The love story is enchanting, but also rather abrupt and lacks real depth.

Tami, too, discovers that the ocean often is tranquil, but it also can be unforgiving and monstrous.

Robert Richardson’s cinematography, emphasizing the vastness of the Pacific Ocean that Kormákur uses, stresses the improbable journey Tami must take to survive — heading toward Hawaii and the possibility of rescue.

It is, she learns, like trying to find a nickel in a mountain of quarters. Tami, inspired by Richard, begins a treacherous journey that tests her mettle, physically and mentally.

Daily her confidence grows as she battles injuries, fatigue, hunger and her own mind, to complete her tasks.

She jerry-rigs a sail and uses a sextant to plot her course. All the while, Richard is encouraging her every step.

“Adrift” is not a movie about how people survive, but why.

Woodley’s performance is mesmerizing. At the outset, she is a happy-go-lucky young woman who does not take life very seriously.

The storm shatters not only the boat, but also her perception of who she is.

Claflin’s Richard is charming and witty. Though older than Tami, he has a boyish attitude that is appealing.

Once at sea, he is very professional and more serious.

For most of the film, Claflin lies immobilized. Yet, his soothing voice and his belief in Tami propel her to accomplish the nearly impossible.

“Adrift,” at about 100 minutes, is intense, especially in the storm sequences. The sound department deserves kudos for making the waves crashing down onto the boat sound like thunder and the winds howl like banshees.

What is the takeaway from “Adrift?” The resolve of the human spirit. More than three decades after the accident, Tami Oldman still loves the sea and continues to sail.

She more than survived — she found her true self.

I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

ADRIFT
3 stars out of 4
(PG-13), violent danger, graphic injury images, brief nudity, language, brief drug use