Review: The Journey of Natty Gann (DMC #78)
Welcome back, everyone! This week we watched The Journey of Natty Gann, the 78th film in the Disnerd Movie Challenge. Set during the Great Depression, it’s the story of a girl searching for her father, and the wolf she meets along the way. You can scroll on down for our review if you’ve already seen this, but our synopsis is available if you need to catch up.
Synopsis
In 1935, Natty Gann lives in Chicago with her father, Sol. The Great Depression has left many people without a job, Sol among them. Sol and Natty attend a workers’ protest, where Natty and two boys, Louie and Frankie, sneak off into the men’s restroom to smoke. Frankie accuses Sol of being a communist. Angered, Natty punches Frankie and a fight ensues. Later that evening, Sol tends to Natty’s wounds and teases her playfully about standing up for what she believes in “in the men’s room.” The next day, Sol is offered a lumberjack position in Washington state, but the bus to take him there is leaving in mere hours. Though he initially declines the offer due to his responsibility to Natty, he decides to take it. Sol searches around town for Natty but is unable to find her before he has to depart. He talks to Connie, the keeper of the San Marco Hotel where he and Natty are staying, and asks her to look after Natty, promising to send Natty the money needed to join him once he has earned enough. While out roaming the town, Natty finds a puppy and takes it in to care for it. When she returns home, Connie tells her that her father has left and gives Natty a letter from Sol. He has also left Natty a locket containing pictures of him and Natty’s late mother. Connie and Natty do not get along; Natty doesn’t like that Connie tells her what to do and Connie is irritated that Natty is always getting into trouble. One day, Natty sees Frankie and his family being evicted from their home by police, and she joins protesters in throwing rocks at the police. Natty is apprehended and taken back to the hotel, where Connie, as her guardian, is ordered to appear in court with Natty the next day. Connie reprimands Natty and locks her in her room, but Natty picks the lock and sneaks out. After overhearing Connie reporting her as an abandoned child, Natty runs away in an attempt to find her father on her own. Realizing that she can’t take the dog with her, Natty leaves it for a friendly shopkeeper, Sherman, and promises it will be okay. She tries to hop onto a moving train and is helped aboard by a young man (Harry) who is also traveling west. The next morning, the two escape from railroad cops looking for hitchhikers, and Natty continues her journey alone. She comes across an illegal dog fighting ring and helps an aggressive wolf escape. When she finds another train to hide in for the night, she finds the wolf already there, who barks and snarls at her. Natty finds another spot on the train. The following day, as the train heads west, the oil drums on the train catch fire and explode. Natty and the wolf run away from the wreckage and into the woods. The wolf watches Natty from afar as she makes her way through the woods, and eventually brings her a dead rabbit for her to cook and eat. Later, the two seek shelter in a cave after a heavy rainstorm, and Natty refuses to be bullied out of the small shelter by the wolf. Meanwhile, Sol calls Connie so he can talk to Natty, but he learns that she has run away. He demands that Connie makes sure his daughter is found.
Natty and the wolf form a bond while in the cave and become traveling companions. The wolf, whom she simply calls Wolf, leads her to a farm and hides in the woods while Natty investigates. The married couple living at the farm take her inside and provide her food (although the husband does so begrudgingly). Natty helps them on their farm in exchange for their hospitality. The wife, who is expecting, collapses from labor pains. As she lays in her room, she is visited by Natty and the two share similar tragedies—Natty over the loss of her mother, and the woman over the loss of her first child. Outside the farm, a pack of coyotes sneak into the chicken coop and attack the hens. Wolf lets out a howl and fights off the coyotes, but his howl attracts the farmer’s attention. He grabs his gun and attempts to shoot Wolf, but Natty distracts him. She and Wolf run away from the farm and back into the woods. In another phone call to Connie, Sol says he’s coming back to Chicago to see Natty. However, he is told that her wallet was found buried underneath a derailed train in Colorado. Heartbroken, Sol makes plans to collect the wallet in Colorado and search for Natty. Meanwhile, Natty and Wolf continue on until they reach a small town. Though Natty tries to panhandle some fruit from a shop owner, she is quickly shooed away. A group of young men offer to take Natty and Wolf in and get them some food. Their leader, Parker, tells Natty that her father isn’t coming back for her and that she’s better off looking out for herself. The group takes Natty to a ranch where they attempt to steal a bull onto a truck so they can sell it. Wolf chases the bull onto the truck, but the gang leaves Natty and Wolf behind as the bull’s owner returns. Natty is taken into custody and subsequently taken to a girls’ prison. After meeting a girl named Twinky in the exercise yard, Natty spots Wolf being shoved into a crate and taken away to a blacksmith shop owned by a man named Charlie Linfield. Natty cries out for the men to let Wolf go, but she is locked in solitary confinement by the matron as punishment for her outburst. After rejoining the other prisoners, Natty sneaks out (with Twinky’s help), and then slips into the trunk of a car. The driver of the car heads to a café, allowing Natty to continue on to Charlie’s blacksmith shop. She finds the crate Wolf was in, but it’s empty. Natty turns to Charlie and demands to know where Wolf is, and Charlie reveals that he was keeping him inside to keep him safe. Although Charlie tries to persuade Natty to turn herself in, she is adamant to make it to Washington, so Charlie offers to drive her and Wolf to the next train station. Unfortunately, once Natty pays for her ticket, the station operator delays giving the ticket to Natty and calls an unknown person who is apparently looking for Natty. Natty, assuming the prison is looking for her, leaves the station in a hurry with Wolf by her side. In the meantime, Sol has taken a week of vacation to look for Natty, but he soon gives up hope, believing Natty was killed in the train accident. He returns to Washington. Thinking he now has nothing to live for, he requests to work as a topper, a tree-cutting job so dangerous it’s known as “widows’ work.”
Natty’s journey becomes more challenging. She is offered a ride by an older man who tries to sexually assault her, but Wolf attacks him, allowing Natty and Wolf to escape. The pair later come across a shanty town where Natty is reunited with the young man (Harry) who helped her get onto the train in Chicago. He tells her to help herself to some of his food, but they and many of the other vagrants are soon forced to run away by so-called law abiding citizens called “Main Streeters” who rush in with torches to set the place on fire. Natty and Harry hop aboard another train. Wolf disappears when he hears the sound of wolf howls in the distance and nearly misses the train, but he manages to jump on in the nick of time. Not too long after, the group is forced to abandon the train and keep walking. One day they find shelter in a barn. Natty asks Harry if he has ever been to the west coast, and he tells her the story of how he lost his father. Later, Natty, Harry, and Wolf climb a water tower in order to sneak onto another train, and this one finally takes them all the way to the west coast. Once in Seatt.e, Harry finds work through the WPA. He is going to leave for California and asks Natty to come with him. However, Natty is still determined to find her father, even though Harry tells her she is wasting her time. Natty refuses to believe her father meant to abandon her and tearfully tells Harry she can’t join him. Harry accepts her decision. Before he boards the bus for California, the two share a kiss. A short time later, Natty enters a lumber mill office and asks the company clerk for any record of her father. The clerk has no record of him, but Natty remains undeterred. She heads to the lumber mill’s basecamp and shows the locket Sol left her to other loggers in the area, hoping any of them might know where he is. The company clerk catches her and arranges for Natty to be sent back down the mountain on the next truck. While waiting to be picked up, Natty writes Harry a letter to update him. Wolf hears the calls of several other wolves nearby and runs to the woods as Natty chases him. Deciding that he should be with his own kind, Natty tearfully tells Wolf to go join the wolves. Natty’s spirits quickly take an upturn when the company clerk unexpectedly finds a returned letter from Sol, which includes a train ticket for Natty to join him. The clerk makes new arrangements to take Natty to the top of the mountain to join her father. The car ends up crashing, leaving Natty to keep climbing the mountain road by herself. Just up the mountain, Sol and several other workers attempt to blow up some lumber, but the procedure goes horribly wrong and leaves several of the men injured. As Natty rushes up the road, a company truck suddenly drives past her going back down the mountain to take the injured to a hospital. She sees her father sitting in the back of the truck and immediately chases after it, calling out for him. The truck is too quick for her and is soon far out of reach, leaving her devastated. Suddenly, Natty hears her name called from behind her—it’s her father! They both run to each other and embrace, overjoyed at finally being reunited. High atop a cliff, Wolf looks on at the reunited father and daughter.
Thoughts Before Watching
Megan: I’m not quite sure what to expect with this one, but there’s a dog (wolf?) so that seems promising. The description says it’s set in the Depression Era and stars a girl, so that sounds interesting enough.
Kevin: Something is familiar about the title, but I can’t for the life of me remember if I’ve actually seen it. Maybe I have just heard it in passing? Anyway, this is as new of an experience as it gets. At the time of writing my before thoughts, I’m mostly familiar with Meredith Salenger and John Cusack for their voice acting roles (Salenger voiced various characters in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Cusack voiced Dimitri in Anastasia). I’m interested to see how these two work together in this film. Oh, and I’m also interested in the wolf/dog, because animals!
Thoughts After Watching
Bleak, but ultimately endearing
Kevin: I’m still not sure where I’ve heard of this movie before, but after watching it I can definitely say I’ve never seen it. And, boy, I’m really glad we sat down to view it. There was an immense satisfaction in watching this story unfold as we rooted for Natty and Sol to be reunited, and while I didn’t cry, there were definitely some moments that tugged at my heartstrings. The Journey of Natty Gann could be described as an adventure film, however it stands in contrast to some of the other adventure films we’ve seen in this challenge because it’s a period piece. Having the movie set in the middle of the Great Depression immediately sets the story up to be brooding. We see the sadness and frustration in Natty and Sol’s eyes as the lack of work takes a toll on their lives. We witness the hardships many of the travelers experience as they struggle to get by. The movie gives us a bit of a roller coaster experience by seemingly having things work out for Natty only for the rug to be pulled out from beneath her shortly after (I mean, there wouldn’t be an engaging story if that didn’t happen). I appreciate that the filmmakers did not try to shy away from the gritty realism of the period, and this is evident in everything from the production design to the emotions of the characters. The characters are dirty, the sets are dilapidated, and at many times the journey seems hopeless. This movie even has cursing, and I don’t mean an implied curse word where it’s barely whispered or the character trails off before they completely finish the word; Disney actually allowed swear words here. It’s become a bit more common for Disney to allow this in some of their live-action films and shows, and quite frankly the cursing in this movie is pretty tame (the only word I recall is “shit”). But this film came out in the ‘80s, so I can only imagine how off-putting it may have been for audiences at the time. Anyway, it’s just a small part of the overall tone of the film. There is absolutely no squeaky-clean polish to be found here. Natty’s journey is rough; seeing her in danger and watching Sol’s growing despondency, especially when he believes Natty is dead, is heartbreaking. We even see a man try to sexually assault Natty at one point—this is certainly not your ordinary Disney film.
Thankfully, the movie is not all dark and gloom. Scattered throughout it and at the very end are clear nuggets of optimism. Natty herself is a shining example of this. However tough she tries to be, Natty’s real spirit is one of hope. She refuses to give up finding Sol no matter what obstacles are in her way, nor will she stand for anyone telling her she was abandoned. Her inner strength comes from her love for her father and it drives the plot forward. We’ve talked before on this blog about some movies where the plot is driving the characters rather than the other way around; this film very much feels like Natty is the one driving the story, and it’s because she is written as well as she is. We easily root for her and want her to succeed in finding her father, so every moment that keeps her from getting to him can feel as frustrating to us as it is to her. Of course, Natty’s endearment to us is also thanks to Meredith Salenger’s excellent performance; she brings a wonderful mix of spunky attitude and warmth reminiscent of Jodie Foster. The Journey of Natty Gann is credited as Salenger’s first movie, so I don’t know if she had acting experience prior to this, but damn did she deliver. She has great chemistry with her co-stars Ray Wise and John Cusack. Outside of Natty herself, there are also some wonderful secondary characters she meets along the way that help bring some light to this gloomy tale. This includes: the unnamed pregnant farm woman, who provides a short but sweet dose of motherly affection; Twinky, a girl who helps Natty escape prison; and the unnamed lumber mill clerk who delivers Sol’s letter. In fact, it’s worth noting that these particular characters are women, because the film is chock-full of women that give Natty the encouragement to keep going (more on that subject below). Also, I want to include the blacksmith Charlie as another one of those good characters. However gruff he may appear to be, that man clearly has a heart of gold. Just when Natty feels a sense of loss after Wolf leaves, we are shortly thereafter given another punch to the gut when it appears that Natty has just missed her father. So, the emotional payoff is delivered when Sol is seen standing behind her, and father and daughter are at long last reunited. Natty’s journey is over, and that hug between the two of them was well worth the wait.
Let’s hear it for the women!
Megan: Once I knew this film starred a female character, I was really hoping it would pass the Bechdel test, but deep down bracing for it to fail. However, this film passed with flying colors! There are several moments in this story where two named female characters talk to each other about something other than a man, and there are also instances where unnamed female characters talk to each other about something other than a man. An added bonus: several of these conversations between women involve women supporting women! I believe credit for this film’s passing score in large part goes to the film’s female writer: Jeanne Rosenberg. Sure, Natty is still very much living in a man’s world (she even dresses the part), but we get to see Natty’s journey through a female gaze, with great detail put into even the smallest of female side characters Natty meets along the way.
Megan: First, let’s look at Connie. She might be framed as a villain in Natty’s story, but she’s far more complex than that. Here’s a woman who appears to be running a hotel all on her own. That’s impressive for the Depression Era! What’s more impressive is she seems to be doing well, or at least well enough that she hasn’t had to sell off any of her valuables (did you see what her room looked like compared to Natty and Sol’s?). Because this is the Depression Era, it’s also understandable why Connie isn’t willing to trust that a widowed man (Sol) is going to come back for his only daughter (Natty) after leaving the state to find work. It unfortunately wasn’t unheard of during this time for parents to abandon their children with friends or relatives, just so there would be one less mouth to feed. Connie, rightfully, doesn’t want to be saddled with more responsibility than she signed up for. Of course, Sol was fully intending to send for Natty once he had the money for a train ticket, but how was Connie to know that? When Natty gets in trouble with the police and is instructed to show up in court—with Connie—the next day, it’s no wonder Connie loses it. She thought she’d be doing Sol a favor for a few days, tops, in looking after Natty—she did not sign up to watch a trouble-making kid indefinitely. Honestly, I feel for Connie. Here’s a woman who’s been so jaded by the sexism and economic hardship of the Depression Era that she assumes she’s been left with a troublesome kid by a father who wants to abandon his parental duties. She might play an antagonistic role in Natty’s story, but in Connie’s eyes, Natty and Sol are the ones playing the antagonistic roles.
Kevin: Completely agreed here. I also want to applaud the writers for developing Connie as well as they did, because I was feeling a mix of emotions. On the one hand, her outward behavior stands in total contrast to Natty for obvious reasons. Natty is the main character and the one we’re supposed to root for, so it’s only natural to see Connie as the “villain.” But as Megan said, Connie was asked to do a huge favor for Sol, a favor which is not at all easy to do. So, rather than see Connie as someone to be against, we’re able to sympathize with her as we do Natty, if only for different reasons. This is one of the movie’s examples of nuance; very little here is black and white. Most of the characters aren’t really grouped into good or bad (with a few exceptions), and are instead much more gray. It’s exactly what a movie set during the Great Depression would really need if you’re going for something realistic.
Megan: The next woman Natty encounters, the farm woman, is far more helpful along Natty’s journey than Connie. (In this case, it’s the farm woman’s husband, Al, who plays the antagonistic role.) Though the farm woman is unnamed, she and Natty have a very real heart-to-heart conversation about the baby the woman lost, and the mother Natty lost. This is the first moment over the course of the entire movie that Natty has made a female friend. In some ways, this farm woman serves as a maternal presence along Natty’s journey, not only because she’s pregnant, but because she allows Natty to open up about her own mother, and she offers Natty a bit of motherly love. Natty, in turn, is there for this woman during a key moment in her pregnancy—being able to run after the mule after this woman collapses from labor pains, and also connecting with her after the pains have passed. Though their encounter is brief in the context of Natty’s journey, the empathy and support between these two characters runs deep.
Megan: It isn’t until Natty is taken to a girls’ prison that she makes a female friend her own age: a girl named Twinky. It is Twinky who first extends the hand of friendship (and then immediately apologizes for it because it means they both have to run laps). Twinky is also the one who helps Natty navigate the new world inside this prison where the antagonistic Matron runs everything with zero tolerance for rule-breaking or disobedience. When Natty decides she’s getting out of the prison, Twinky supports Natty by offering her hat, so Natty can avoid recognition, and then seals up Natty’s exit behind her after she leaves. Though Twinky also had the opportunity to escape with Natty, she chooses to stay behind and cover for Natty.
The next woman Natty encounters doesn’t even realize she’s been helpful. Natty sneaks into the trunk of this woman’s car, and the woman drives Natty into town to what appears to be a bar, where Natty, unbeknownst to this woman, is able to get out and ask directions to the blacksmith where she suspects Wolf was taken.
The last woman who helps Natty on her journey is the woman at the lumber mill. Though unable to find any record of Sol among the mill’s paperwork at first, once the woman finds Natty poking around the mill’s basecamp she goes out of her way to do a little extra digging and finds a letter from Sol to Natty among the “dead letters” (dead as in undeliverable). It is thanks to her that Natty is finally set on the final stretch of her journey to be reunited with her father.
Were it not for all these women (yes, even Connie) helping Natty along her journey in their own ways, Natty and Sol might not have found their way back to each other. That’s a win for this female-lead and female-written film in my book!
It’s still a man’s world
Megan: The Depression Era was not the best of times to be a woman. Sure, women had the right to vote as of the 1920s, but in the 1930s, only 50% of single women worked outside the home, and that number dropped dramatically to 12% once women got married (you can read more about it here). It was expected that women would drop out of the workforce after marriage. This film stays true to the times. Those showing up to look for work are overwhelmingly men in this film, because that’s the way it was. Natty, being the daughter of a widowed father, has uncommon access to these male spaces. Her dad, Sol, brings her along with him when he goes to meetings or to look for work, and Natty ends up making friends with mostly boys—also brought along by their fathers. In one of the very first scenes, Natty sneaks into the men’s restroom with the other boys—that’s how accustomed she is to this male-dominated world. Why Natty dresses more masculine is left open for interpretation. It could be that dressing like a boy allows her the freedom to access these male spaces without being questioned. It could be she was raised by a father who didn’t quite know what to do about girls’ clothes, or that Natty so idolized her father that she wanted to be just like him in every way—even her clothing. Maybe she just finds pants more comfortable. Whatever the reason, it’s interesting that in this film that passes the Bechdel test, the main female character chooses to dress in a more masculine style as she navigates the man’s world of 1935 Chicago and beyond.
And yet, no one ever mistakes Natty for a boy. Every new person Natty encounters recognizes Natty as a girl, and Natty never tries to pretend she’s a boy, either. She pretends to be tough at times, like when the group of boys talk her into stealing a bull with them, but she never pretends to be male, which I really appreciated. That said, being recognized as female poses a danger to Natty in this man’s world where sexism pervades everything. It is because she’s recognized as female that a man picks her up in his truck along the road and then tries to sexually assault her before Wolf thankfully intervenes. It’s also the reason Natty has to be cautious with the boys she meets along the way—and why she warily asks Harry what he expects in return for sharing his food. As if riding the rails and hitch-hiking her way across the country weren’t dangerous enough, being female while trying to travel that way increases the danger. This is a world where most men don’t respect women, and they’ll readily take advantage of a young girl who’s alone and perceived as vulnerable.
Megan: Unlike the sexism we’ve seen in some previous films in this challenge that seems to seep into the film by nature of being created by an all-male team, the sexism in this film is viewed through the eyes of the female character who is victimized by sexism as she moves through the world. That point of view shift makes a huge difference. While you may have read my criticism of sexist moments in previous films in this challenge, I don’t have the same criticisms for this film. That’s because the sexism in this film reads as a historical lived experience—this is what it was like to be female in 1935, and to pretend otherwise would do a disservice to the women who lived that experience. My hope is that anyone who views this movie today sees how tough it can be to be female in this world where men are often more dangerous than a literal wolf—and changes their actions accordingly.
Sol is a good father
Kevin: I don’t think Sol deserves backlash for leaving Natty, or at least doesn’t deserve as much as some of the characters give him. A lot of the characters tell Natty that Sol abandoned her, and don’t understand why she wants so badly to find him. We have to understand the context of why Sol left Natty, and it’s also good to get a feel for why many of the characters think Natty is wasting her time. First, it’s established from the very get go that Sol and Natty have a wonderful relationship in spite of the Great Depression. They deeply love and care about each other. When Sol is offered the job in Washington state, his first action is to turn it down because he doesn’t want to leave Natty. But when Sol stops to consider the gravity of the situation, he does what he believes is the best decision to help his daughter. I cannot imagine the sheer pain any parent would have to go through to make a decision like that, but really, what choice did Sol have? They were down to their final dollars and work was scarce. If he gave up the job, how long would it be before more work became available? Would he and Natty survive if he turned it down? It’s also not like Sol just immediately jumped on the bus without so much as trying to tell his daughter. He was unfortunately in a tight spot and short on time, so he made the choice to ask Connie to look after Natty until he had enough money to bring her to Washington. It’s easy to judge this decision as poor, given Connie’s obvious dislike for Natty, but as Megan already pointed out, Connie has as much good reason to be angry at the situation as Natty does. I suspect Sol knew that asking Connie to watch Natty for a while wasn’t going to turn out well, but again, what choice did he really have? Now, I can understand why many of the younger boys would try to persuade Natty that Sol abandoned her; unfortunately, a lot of parents did just that during this time. I am sure many kids felt betrayed and hurt. Natty never loses that spark of hope, however. It’s a good thing the filmmakers decided to show us how Sol was doing after taking the job. Getting to see his reactions to leaving Natty, hearing about the train accident and believing her dead, and deciding to take on the more dangerous jobs since he thought he would no longer get to see his daughter are all pivotal parts of Sol’s own journey. This helps strengthen the bond between the two. In my book, Sol did everything he felt was right, just like Natty did. Was he perfect? No, but he did the best he could in a seemingly hopeless situation.
Why the romance?
Kevin: The short, innocent romance between Natty and Harry is not the main focus of the story, but once more I found myself asking why it even had to exist. The film was already pretty adult enough without including a romance. We first meet Harry when Natty leaves Chicago, and at that point he isn’t given a name. Then he disappears for a large portion of the film until he and Natty meet again, somehow coincidentally at the same random location. Over the course of the next 15-20 minutes, Natty and Harry act as travel companions along with Wolf, with the group arriving on the west coast together. Harry then leaves for California to start his own new job. He asks Natty to come with him, but she declines, and the two kiss before he leaves. This all happened so quickly and with so little build up that it’s completely undeserved. And honestly, John Cusack really did not need to be in this. Nothing against him as an actor, but Harry as a character doesn’t provide anything new to Natty’s journey other than being a romantic partner, and part of the problem is that he has so little screen time. I thought Harry was going to be around for most of the film since he’s featured on the preview page. I’m actually glad he wasn’t, only because I think giving Natty a constant human companion would have undercut the film’s focus on her and Sol. But it still begs the question: why have Harry at all? If the filmmakers really wanted his character there, I think they should have just made him a completely platonic character.
Megan: From a storytelling perspective, I can see why Harry was introduced. He is one of the earlier mentor characters who teaches Natty how to ride the rails. The tricky thing is, as a mentor, he doesn’t stick around long enough. He enters Natty’s story at the right time, but he then leaves for a long stretch of Natty’s journey before the two find each other again and split for a final time. In a typical hero’s journey story, Harry should have left Natty right around the All Is Lost beat, forcing Natty to confront the final leg of her journey on her own.
Engaging story, but strange story beats
Megan: I found myself truly engaged with this story throughout the film. I was rooting for Natty as she went along her journey, and I was rooting for her father to eventually be reunited with his daughter. The only thing that threw me off a little was the story’s plot structure. I could have sworn that the moment Natty was locked up in solitary confinement at the juvenile prison was the All Is Lost/Dark Night of the Soul moment of the film. It had all the hallmarks of it: by this point Natty had lost not only her father, but also the wolf—her one and only true friend who stuck by her side over her entire journey. She was trapped in a prison cell with no escape, and with no one to turn to for help. While watching the film, I was so convinced we were at the All Is Lost moment that, as the film continued on, I began to wonder how long this movie was going to be. According to Save the Cat plot structure, the All Is Lost Moment should occur somewhere around minute 75 in a film. However, in going back to look at this film’s minute 75, I don’t see anything resembling an All Is Lost moment. In fact, at 01:15:00, Wolf makes the daring leap onto the train car. Not exactly an All Is Lost moment. Though the placement of the prison story beat would suggest that it should be part of the Bad Guys Close In beat, I think it really is just a very early All Is Lost Moment (when Wolf is taken away) followed by a Dark Night of the Soul moment (when Natty is locked in solitary confinement). However, instead of Bad Guys Close In fully happening before the All Is Lost moment, it largely happens after the All Is Lost moment. I think this is why the second half of the movie felt so much longer to me. That section of the film also had me wondering if this film was based on a book, especially given how much story the filmmakers managed to fit within a one hour and forty minute film. It turns out this film was not based on a book (or at least not one that was ever published). Major props to Jeanne Rosenberg for writing a story that felt as epic as an adventure novel, yet fit within a film. My only critique, writer to writer, is to reconsider the order of events so the All Is Lost moment lands where modern audiences expect it to.