I’m putting this in the philo section even though it involves a film “All Is Lost” starring Robert Redford. I suggest you see it, very deep and gripping, existential and urgent.
My question, to anyone who’s seen it, deals with the letter he narrates near the end of the film. I don’t count it as a spoiler per se, because some stuff happens after this scene, we really don’t know the outcome till the very end, and it’s all just a series of trying to not drown. Plus I think this is read at the open of the film as well:
What jumps out at me is the word “inexcusable.” I find it to be the haunting, important, discussion-worthy word in this film. One word. We have a guy who bravely followed protocol, never gave up, tried everything. And yet, when he begins to realize all is lost, and he writes his missive in a bottle, he deems something “inexcusable.” He’s NOT talking about his seafaring mistakes, if any even existed. He’s definitely referring to the mistake as NOT ACCEPTING earlier that all had been lost.
Any fool can see the film is sad. Life is no different. What’s important is to see how the film affirms something, anything, so that we can take away something other than “wow, sad.”
It would be much easier to come away from this film, much cleaner and more gratifying, if we didn’t have to contend with that one word “inexcusable.”
What is inexcusable? Why did HE judge himself thus? How can we learn from this to help us avoid behaving inexcusably in our final hour, or even before then?
Clearly he ties it with the idea of “taking it so long to admit” presumably here, the fact that all is lost. But had he believed all was lost, he may not have followed protocol so aggressively. Is he suggesting that he should have admitted to himself defeat and yet still performed? I mean, I could go on obviously, I’ve thought several steps beyond this, but I want to hear what you have to say, once you’ve thought it through thoroughly. Bottom line is it seems to me that the movie teaches that stoic unemotional avoidance of a situation may in retrospect seem somehow vane or wasteful, in some way?