By Katie Walsh / Tribune News Service
It’s so rare to see a woman at the center of a survival story. That’s what grabs you right away in “Adrift,” starring Shailene Woodley as Tami Oldham, based on Oldham’s incredible life story.
Right away, we’re thrown below deck in the aftermath of a brutal Pacific Ocean storm as Tami comes to in a sinking yacht, bleeding from a head injury, struggling to survive. So often female characters are relegated to worried wives and mothers waiting for a call, so it’s downright refreshing to witness the depiction of a woman as independently strong, capable and determined to survive.
Of course, because this is a Hollywood movie, there’s a love story incorporated into this female “All Is Lost,” but it was a love story in real life, too. As soon as Tami realizes her whereabouts, she starts shouting for her partner, her captain and lover, Richard (Sam Claflin). As she discovers his safety line dangling loose, she wails in grief and agony, and the film takes us back to an earlier time, when Tami landed in Tahiti.
It’s 1983 and free-spirited itinerant surfer Tami is looking for odd jobs to keep her traveling around the world as long as she can. When a handsome British sailor, Richard, navigates into port, it’s love at first sight, and the adventurous twosome plan to sail the world. But first, they need to earn some money, so they accept a gig delivering a 55-foot luxury sailing yacht, Hazana, to San Diego for a wealthy older couple.
The film flashes between Tami and Richard’s courtship in Tahiti and the aftermath of the storm spent aboard the wrecked Hazana, adrift on the Pacific for 41 days. The relationship is at the core of the story. It is both the relationship that brought Tami to this place, and the relationship that keeps them alive.
She sets about repairing and righting the ship with a frantic energy. She miraculously discovers a gravely wounded, barely alive Richard clinging to the dinghy in the middle of the sea and nurses him aboard the boat. She navigates thousands of miles to Hawaii with a sextant, a wristwatch and her intuition.
Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur is the perfect filmmaker for the tale. The geography of the boat is dynamic and multi-faceted, never claustrophobic. Tami owns every inch of the craft — underneath and around it, inside and on top. There are many incredible underwater stunts as she makes her vessel as seaworthy as possible.
The real guts and strength of the film belongs to Tami. Ultimately, “Adrift” is just about her and her will to survive, just a young woman and the sea, and it’s a profound thing to see on screen.
‘Adrift’ (3 stars)
A profound telling of Tami Oldham’s survival story, adrift on the Pacific for 41 days. There’s a love story incorporated into this female “All Is Lost,” but the real guts and the strength of the film belongs to Tami. With Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin.
Rating: PG-13, for injury images, peril, language, brief drug use, partial nudity and thematic elements
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Cinebarre Mountlake Terrace, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Meridian, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Seattle 10, Woodinville, Cascade Mall
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