Fresh water
How likely is it that there would be a source of fresh water on a tiny island way out in the middle of the ocean?- There is not. He survived on coconut milk and rainwater.
- The most probable immediate source was rainwater. He was in an area that rained quite often, so he likely created a gathering pool from the remains of the raft to gather, and used the coconut shells as storage. In fact, this was what he did while sailing
The seafood buffet on his return
Good heavens - don't you think this guy had had enough seafood? He probably wanted a burger!
- It's been a while since I watched the movie, but wasn't that the joke?
- Personally, I thought the joke was that the crab legs at the buffet were so much bigger than the crab he'd been eating on the island. The look on his face, to me, seemed to say, "Where the hell were these giant crabs on my island? Did I get stuck on the Island of Gimpy Crabs?"
- I think the writers knew that added that for Rule of Funny.
- That whole scene reeks of Comically Missing the Point. One of Chuck's coworkers tells him they need to catch up on some fishing. Because Chuck probably hasn't done enough fishing the past 4 years.
- There is the possibility that seafood was served because, having lived on a purely seafood diet for four years, suddenly eating a bunch of red meat would have made Chuck sick. Don't know if the same goes for poultry.
The package he never opened
Why did he never open that package during the 4 years he was stuck on that island? Wouldn't he want to know if there was anything useful or potentially life-saving in it? Also it seems rather absurd that after 4 years that he would give the damn thing back to the address it belonged to, you would think that they would have long since forgotten about the item they had purchased if they had not already replaced it.
- I've seen that as a "the mail must get through"-attitude, an intentional unfinished business that would serve to get him through low spells. Also there are occasional reports about letters delivered with a delay of decades, and the reaction is generally not "why do you bother me with this now".
- A FedEx commercial for the super bowl parodying it
has the final scene of the movie be a little different where the person the package was addressed to meets him at the door and accepts it. Out of curiosity he asks the woman he meets to open it for him so that he can know what was in the package. It was a satellite phone, a GPS, fishing pole, water purified, and seeds. Had he opened the package he could have gotten off 4 years sooner.- There are, however, conflicting reports on what was actually in the package. I guess, at the end, they just left it up for the viewer to decide. My guess? Probably a life raft of some sort. I mean, the size of the package looks like it could fit one in there.
- Well, according to the third draft of the movie, on the 1,000th day on the island Chuck opens the package which contained two bottles of salsa verde and a note. More info here.
The plane crash
- Why does the engine he sees nearby in the water just after the crash seem to spontaneously burst into flames and explode? Maybe some airplane guys can shed some light.
- I'm not an airplane guy but I would guess it had something to do with the water being sucked into the engine and...something to do with pressure in the engine and...bad things happened inside and it 'asploded. Yeah.
- Possibly some of the electronics that controlled the engine shorted out and sparked off whatever fuel was inside.
A long time without fire
Chuck was on that island a long time (several weeks at least) before deciding he needed to make a fire. It would surely have been one of the first things he missed.- He might have missed it but not been desperate enough for it that he wanted to put out the effort to try and make one. Remember, every movement and bit of activity burns calories, calories he couldn't spare at that point. He thus doesn't decide to make fire until he needs fire.
Figuring out where Chuck was stranded
- Near the end of the movie, Kelly shows Chuck charts detailing where he was found, where the island was, and how far he drifted - how the heck did anyone figure out the last two?
- Sea currents would be one major aid. Since he wasn't traveling under his own power for the most part, he'd be at the mercy of the currents. Knowing where he was picked up, they could at the very least back track along the current. But also consider that he got to the island because of a plane crash - even if the black box is unrecoverable, they could find out where the plane might have had troubles (certainly the pilots would have said as much over the radio). So there's more information available than might otherwise seem.
- His description of the island's size and layout could narrow it down further, as even tiny islands which nobody's visited for decades are at least documented by oceanographic surveys.
- He crashed within a small area he was able to chart because of his knowledge. He was found in a exactly known area (a shipping lane). He wasn't found in the inital searches because they were off course and searching in the wrong place. Once they had him it was easy to backtrack.
Chuck's sanity when creating Wilson
In the writers' mind, did they thought Hanks creating an imaginary friend would keep him from going insane? Doesn't talking to a volleyball make you crazy?- It clearly starts as a way of entertaining himself and then by the end of the four year period he's gotten way too in to it and its become a kind of security blanket. Its not like we're meant to see it as him NOT going crazy but its likely a defense mechanism he developed to keep him from losing all hope.
- Humans are social creatures. People in any form of isolation often do start to talk to themselves, and in some cases, will designate some object to be the other 'them' they are talking to. It's a comfort mechanism and a way to have some sort of control in their loneliness. It's not a sign of going crazy in and of itself, but Chuck has gone a little bit off the deep end in his desperation for companionship.
- More likely than you think. There was a controversial reality show in Japan note involving a man trapped in an apartment with no human contact and was happy to receive a plush seal so he could pretend to talk to it. You can even see this phenomenon in children with imaginary friends.
Is Chuck an orphan?
Throughout the entire movie we never see nor hear any reference to any of Chuck’s family. The Christmas dinner is with coworkers, then when he gets off the island he flies back with a friend/coworker. No family greets him at the airport, no family is with him at the hotel, nobody goes with him to deliver the package in Texas. You’d think if he had parents, siblings, cousins, ANY family they’d want to be with him!?!- Maybe he's just on really bad terms with his closest relatives and doesn't really know the rest of them well/at all (or vice versa).
