All Is Lost

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

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?

2

He wouldn’t have tooted his own horn for fighting bravely up until that point. If not admitting it earlier is what’s inexcusable, then fighting till the end would also have been inexcusable.

The film strikes me as about life after a stroke or a heart-attack in old age, or something like that. This guy is clearly rich. Probably was a CEO of some big firm. Now he’s retired and alone with his vessel in the Indian Ocean. I think it’s suggested he probably didn’t pay attention to his family and eventually alienated them. He begins the letter with “I’m sorry,” then goes on talk about things “he tried” doing and being in his life. These are the things he failed at, that is, “to be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right.”

They knew this. They knew he tried and failed. They knew his failures. He wasn’t true, strong, kind, loving, or right. Now he’s alone, with a crappy old vessel that’s going down.

“All is lost here,” he goes on to say, except for what’s left of his soul and body, and “a half-day’s ration,” meaning he’s going to die soon. All is lost, meaning his body, soul, and his loved ones.

We know his ‘vessel’ took a big blow from which it could not completely recover. I don’t know how to make this work, but the shipping container that causes this stroke, or great harm to his vessel, was full of shoes, and I don’t know…maybe this guy was a CEO of a shoe company and the stress at work did this to him.

So, this is where we get to that word. Inexcusable.

My bet is he’s talking about his life. The things he failed at, and subsequently the people he’s lost. That’s what’s taken him so long to admit. That he failed. That he did it. He’s all alone now, with a crappy vessel that’s going down pretty fast. He takes some solace in the fact that he “fought 'til the end,” which could mean he got some of his shit together after the big heart attack, or that he was a hard worker for Air Jordans Inc., and tells them that he has “always hoped for more for you all,” which I’m thinking means he doesn’t value his life all that much, and would have wanted his kids (I’m presuming) to do better than him - keeping in mind this guy is rich and successful.

He keeps on sailing with his shitty vessel for a short while longer, then it gives up on him. Then he’s kept alive on life-support, er…I mean the life raft. I can imagine him in his hospital room, hooked up to machines, all alone, and strangers passing by. He tries to grab their attention, but they keep on sailing away.

Then finally, when all seems lost and even his life-raft can’t keep him afloat…I should mention I hated the ending.

The movie is about regret in old age.

That final scene though…come on man. It ruined the movie. It cast it in such a christian light. His loss of pride and repentance, his remorse and guilt is what saved him.

3

Well, hang on. After the big injury to his boat, he tries old means of communication, but they don’t work. He says “all is lost” when he’s on the life-raft, after having lost the boat. A message in a bottle. A long shot at communication. One in which he’s guilt-ridden, regretful, broken, and laid bare…

…then he’s saved. All is not lost.

[tab]Fuck. I’m reminded of Wagner turning Christian at the end of his life.[/tab]

4

He is just apologizing to the world. His “inexcusable” was referring to not being a better person and not fighting the good fight better than he did. It’s a psych piece.

…hope he didn’t have any trouble remembering his lines… :confused:

5

xxc: whether he was saved, debatable. that was very metaphorical for heaven. but either way, not the point. the point is why he felt he did something inexcusable in not realizing sooner that he’d probably die despite all efforts.

James: He clearly states his inexcusable act had to do with not “realizing it sooner.” It had nothing to do with not fighting the good fight, which he clearly did, to the letter. We saw him. What we didn’t see, and what he eventually saw, was something else he “forgot” to do, that had more to do with realizing he’d die, and less to do with following protocol bravely and efficiently. In fact, his main thing is he tried, and he knows he tried, he tried real hard, hard as he could. So he’s not saying he didn’t fight the fight. He’s saying he didn’t realize.
That confuses me. But I don’t think we’re there yet guys, keep trying.

6

I think it means that he did fight the good fight, but then he realized that by fighting the fight, he had only added to it. He had changed people that might have been on different paths before he came along. ‘Not realizing it sooner’ in that context would mean that he would have stopped fighting sooner if he had realized.

A lot of people stop thinking after that point and they’re filled with regret, but if they keep thinking, then ‘not realizing it sooner’ takes on yet again a different meaning. If he hadn’t fought, he wouldn’t have realized when he did and by fighting, he caused others to fight harder in certain regards and would, in turn, cause them to learn sooner. Everything that he had done had helped regardless of him knowing it. At that point, ‘not realizing it sooner’ would almost be a phrase of liberation.

And then comes the thought; ‘what if I can learn this thing and make it happen faster.’ Which is what I tried to do. I have pushed myself too fast and too far to escape from my own negative perception of the world; a negative perception that was only there because others before me had given up fighting instead of thinking things completely through. They let their sons and daughters be what they wanted instead of what was for their good; and we now have a lot of addictions that will be hard to work through.

Not to preach my beliefs about society; but what I often lament is that the lessons aren’t made clear enough. And they aren’t made clear enough because we try to force things. Through fighting, we come to learn this; though a lot of people don’t. Certainly I don’t think we should ever give up fighting; but the nature of the fighting changes from aggression to peace over time. Instead of being violent, you use sense and reason to neutralize hostile situations. It is finesse and respect and an appreciation for the beauty inherent in each thing, even the apparent flaws; something I’ve yet to master. It is still a fight, but usually when I try to explain it, it comes out sounding hostile because of the way I was raised.

But, that is what I believe is meant by that. It all depends on the depth which a person allows themselves to think. Did he reach the point of half-self-awareness, or the point of full awareness? Or one of the other various points along the way?

Edit: on a side note; it becomes a point that you only enter that state of self awareness through fighting and conflict and you wish to provide a similar structure for others; which is what others have surely done or have tried to do. A structure of positive-criticism, which is hard to accomplish and which is why people will only be able to do the best they can until we get to a certain point.

7

i saw the film at a lower then low time in my life, and what seems inexcusable, seems not to be his own awareness of his denial of reality of fighting on against insurmountable odds, but the projection of his anger toward the elements of nature, with which, conceivably, he had some subsequent rapport and trust.

8

That’s not what’s inexcusable. What’s inexcusable is that it took him too long to admit his failures to those people he says he’s sorry to. Twice, by the way. First in the beginning of his speech, and then after mentioning that he failed at those things he tried being and doing and that he knew they knew that.

It’s also debatable whether him being metaphorically saved is the point or not is debatable. Like I said before, it’s not incidental that he expresses all this regret at the end of his life, when even his life-raft is failing him, and when all the ships that pass by would not stop for him. It’s also hella interesting that it’s after expressing this regret that a hand reached out for him.