The human spirit never ceases to inspire and this is one inculcated in many by the latest movie directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin of free Solo fame.
Dive into the world of extreme swimming, held by the world renown Diana Nyad, who battled the struggles to become the first swimmer to achieve greatness on September 2, 2013 at a remarkable age of 64 years, swimming the 110-mile stretch from Cuba to Florida.
This was not the first time that Diana tried to cross this path, having unsuccessfully attempted this crossing before. Her previous expeditions had been thwarted by severe storms, countless jellyfish and the fatigue that was to her very own self. But all cylinders fired and out came the unsurmountable spirit. Come what may, it was her ambition to cross this intimidating ocean, and cross she did regardless dominant factors to achieve her ambition.
Do you think Diana made it? If you’ve kept track of her career, then you know the answer. If not, let us just say, we are not revealing the end of the movie here. That would be quite unfair for us to shred this story’s ending as it would ruin the suspense you will witness from this sportsperson’s relentless flexibility while she goes through some rough and really sharky waters while trying to achieve her aspirations.
However, Nyad is not just a narrative about accomplishing the seemingly unachievable, a feat which otherwise many people including myself would consider insane in much many of literally dimensions as they say. It also chronicled the struggle and the undying loyalty of friends and in this case, really close friends as in Diana and her old friend and coach Bonnie Stoll. Bonnie was essentially a constancy in Diana’s world, a person who always remained positive and a reality check for Diana, hence, her having a relation to Diana’s sporting achievement has real weight.
Diana Nyad is played by actress Annette Bening in this movie. She even had to train for a whole year for this part which means that the actress we see in the hot beach scene while Diana is swimming, is indeed Bening who is in water.
Certainly, she didn’t swim the entire distance from Cuba to Florida, but she made an effort to indulge her physical self so as to give a true sport of the character she is playing.
Bening is excellent in the role as she portrays the hardships and mental disturbance that Diana faced so that we can relate to the character and her objective. There will also be occasions in the film where one’s heart will be in one’s mouth (figuratively) it will happen when her sporting ambition faces danger from outside and inside when one will be so captured by her efforts.
And of course, actress Jodie Foster, like her character Bonnie Stoll, does not disappoint since she also excels in performance, especially in parts when she shoots scenes with Bening. The two have great chemistry so it never occurs to us that they bela or she is his friend. They give heart to this exciting film as does Rhys Ifans who plays John Bartlett who is Diana’s ship captain on her excursion.
His character provides a solid counter balance to the more optimistic swimmer, Diana. It is interesting though, to see him act alongside Bening and Foster as a base for reference.
Generally speaking, the plot of the film is quite good although, like many films of this genre, there are some issues of credibility within the scope of the entire picture. For the sake of artistic fabrications, certain scenes have been created, and others that are of note have been left out. One of the examples is Nyad’s Cuba to Florida swim. The film mentions that another athlete failed to make it however it doesn’t mention that there were actually two other people that had made the feat already, only using shark cages for protection.
These aren’t the only omissions from Nyad’s true story but then again the directors should perhaps not be chastised for putting a slightly more romantic spin on it. It should be noted however that the film is not as such intended to be a 100% accurate portrayal of the legendary swimmer’s life story.
Rather, it is their battle overcoming their personal hurdles that resonates with everyone and has lessons to motivate you to follow your dreams. They portray the reality of the 2013 swim where Diana did what few athletes would have dared to as the rest would have beat a hasty retreat!
The film “Nyad” will exceed most of the expectations viewers will have about a biopic but will still appeal. The cinematography was incredible and so were the performances of the three lead actors, later depicting Diana’s various Debacles and Trouble far too realistically during and after her performances. And for the more action oriented people, it may even motivate you to begin working towards all the goals you set for yourself.
Even if you have already seen Diana Nyad’s documentary, you can still learn a lot from this biographical story about Diana Nyad that dives deep into the personal unknown chapter of Diana’s life filled with diverse emotions and triumphs aiming towards providing the audience with a great experience.
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