I'll kick things off with a couple of observations. First, Chandor splits up the story into three acts: Act I: Man vs. Man (P. 1-8) Act II: Man vs. Nature (P. 8-19) Act III: Man vs. Self (P. 19-31) It's an interesting distinction between "Man" and "Self". "Man" suggests Our Man begins the story in a state of Disunity, at war with himself, going off on this aquatic journey as a kind of penitence for behavior he alludes to in the opening monologue. "Self" suggests the deconstruction process Our Man has gone through in Acts I and II has created a kind of existential test: Does he have the will to live... or not? And maybe underneath that, does he have the moral RIGHT to live, circling back to whatever inner 'demons' eating at him at the story's beginning. Another thought: 31 pages translates into about 100 minutes of screen time (less 5-6 minutes for credits), so instead of one minute per page, we get just over 3 minutes per page. This is an interesting object lesson in how dependent a typical script is on the presence of other characters and dialogue. What are your impressions of the All Is Lost script?

>>>does he have the moral RIGHT to live And does he have the RIGHT STUFF -- knowledge, smarts, resourcefulness -- to survive in this battle with the sea. Hmm. Reminds me of the movie adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea". Here we have another story about an old man and the sea. One of the many virtues of the script is that because it is stripped down to the bare bones -- all action, no dialogue (after the initial V.O.) -- it makes it easier to focus on the plot beats.

The Right Stuff. Oh, yeah. Once his electrical gear goes south, he has to rely on his own instincts and quick learning ability, play catch-up on the fly. That's really the focus of Act II: Man vs. Nature. Resourcefulness, as you note, Paul, a biggie. Act III is more primal, even existential.

For me Act I is also about Man vs. Man, not just because "our man" but also about mankind who is junking the ocean, the environment and doesn't care about the consequences neither for nature nor for man. The first act is also a lot about dealing loosing all the technical stuff.

Hi! To me it go's from 1-13-22-31 It's more about the time of when he gets awarness of what is happening to him in order to recognize his humanity as limited one. He is not enough to survive.

Interesting, Katha, drawing that connection with the environment. Of course, Redford is a noted environmentalist and so there's that echo in the movie. And it's possible to interpret the container which collides with Our Man's sailboat as the infringement of humankind on nature. RE losing technical stuff: Absolutely essential to the story in adding drama, making Our Man's struggle into more of an underdog, but more than that, compel him to confront his Self at the rawest, most base level, stripped of technology to help him. Thanks, Katha, for your observations!

So Victoria, in your view, these are the major plotline points: P—1: The movie opens with a V.O., a black screen, and the sound of gentle waves. The protagonist, who is never named, is reading a letter he wrote. Basically, it says he is sorry for all his failings as a person. The letter also hints at the difficulties ahead. ---- P—13: The swells are now at twenty-five feet. He goes down into the main cabin. He pulls off his soaked foul weather gear and vomits at least a gallon of sea water. He is so beat by this time that he simply passes out as the storm rages. ---- P—22: The author takes a moment here to explain that the audience is seeing significant physical changes to the protagonist. He has lost about twenty-five pounds and the gash on his head does not seem to be healing. ---- P—31b: It looks like he is about to go under, but he pops back up and sees a dinghy approaching from the small ship. A young man reaches out his hand and grabs the hand of the protagonist and … fade-to-black. It's interesting that in such a short script, there are other events which we could call plot points. More on that in the second post in this series. Thanks, Victoria!

For me, Man vs. Man was about the relationship between the main character and the people he is apologizing to. Although nothing specific is said, I inferred that the letter was to family that he had let down, and that he had gone into this journey arrogantly, sure he would come out a success on the other end, proving whatever he intended to prove. To me, that's really what got deconstructed -- his arrogance (perhaps in regards to others, toward life/the world, certainly toward nature). And with that, he had to leave behind all the man-made stuff and dig into himself to see if he had enough to survive. Interesting idea about the technological stuff, especially as he's initially at a loss on how to use the sextant.