The Disappeared

Gosh,I really loved this movie.It is a work of art on many levels.Superb acting)i never felt that they were acting) ,moments of tenderness and fragility while 6 manly men battle their way across the ocean with sailor songs and sailor humor.Aportrait of 6 men each with there own reason for wanting to survive.I wish I could say more about it but i can only keep seeing the greyness and the boats in the mist.Ragged men brought to the brink of madness,brought to edge of despair.But as men of the sea will do,they buck up and rally and row..on and on and on.The drama is in their expressions and dialogue.The protagonist is the sea.The hero is the captain of course..as he refuses to abandon any of his men.There is so much hope..and I realized early on that I didn't care so much if they made it or not..i just felt I was with them for better or worse and that was enough.

Absolutely wonderful movie.

It's important not to go into it expecting flashy, fast-paced action like you see in a lot of oceanic survival movies. This movie exists to tell a story. The story of six men who represent every man lost at sea, fishing or not. Anyone who has any connection to the sea, whether it's through a family member, a friend or a childhood home needs to see this movie.

It takes a certain kind of person to enjoy movies like this. It does not distract from the story with clear obstacles, high-budgeted effects or any unnecessary information. Despite that, it's far from lifeless. Shandi Mitchell captured a terrifying realism in her depictions of the open water and the characters surviving on top of it.

The Disappeared takes you into a different head space, giving you plenty of time to pause and think. Like the characters, you are left reflecting on what is happening, and what that means for the future. The performances of the actors leave nothing left to be wanted, and Shawn Doyle took home the ACTRA award to prove it.

Remove yourself from the space of Hollywood jumble. Let The Disappeared show you a real and awe-inspiring story that you can never forget.

(2012) The Disappeared DRAMA

Co-written and directed by Shandi Mitchell with the entire movie taking place on a couple of row boats with paddles, three men on each boat tied to one another as viewers have to endure a whole hour and an a half of them arguing without a compass, and no food rationing as they're struggling to be found. Boring as heck, and to be honest, left myself with more questions than answers, such as the time it happened. And how long.

If you are talking about supposedly long term fisherman who are supposed to have experience, what viewers witness happens exactly the opposite who can be defined as annoyingly incompetent. There's a much superior movie called "Lifeboat" by Hitchcock check that movie instead.

The writer and director of this awful film obviously have never been to sea. That they can't write dialogue or direct their way out of a paper bag is also evident.

The issue is not food, it is water. You can go two to three weeks without any food and a lot longer if you can catch a few fish. But you cannot go three days without water in those conditions without loss of cognitive function and death shortly after. Also 60 minutes of rowing in a day in an open boat would double your water needs for a day. Also anyone involved in offshore fishing knows that it is not the distance to land -- but the currents that will or wont take you into shipping lanes that would matter. There are areas (eg where the Malaysian airliner went down) that have no regular shipping for 1,000 miles. But the area where they were is very close to extremely highly trafficked shipping lanes.

Wonderful film - the story was powerful and the characters were both rich and subtle - their back stories were explored enough that I was interested and became attached, but it didn't go into too much detail about any of them. This kept things in the here and now - which was a theme throughout.

It was so nice to watch a film that didn't have a soundtrack! I really felt like I was on the water with the guys just hearing their voices, the ores and I think at one point, some whales. And I think music would have taken me out of that. I loved how there was so much silence. Silence is underused and I guess underrated as a cinematic tool, but a great decision was made here to let it carry the film throughout - as if it actually WAS the soundtrack. The silence was both beautiful and lonely. It must have been a challenge to make a film without music or special effects, having only a few characters and props - and still have it be engaging throughout. But it absolutely was.

The film does a great job of creating a feeling of being lost and disoriented with time and space - just another way the film makes us feel like we're a part of this journey.

On a purely entertainment level The Disappeared is a compelling survivalist story. But on a deeper level the film made me think about all the fishermen (and women?) who have become lost at sea. And to take it one step further there are unfortunate events and tragedies that happen all the time that we don't hear or think much about. And this film can get us thinking about those too.

Highly recommended.