Because I feel moved to share inspiring experiences with you, today I’m writing about the film All is Lost, written and directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Robert Redford. Some films are pure fun, some technical marvels, and others are quiet and devastating. All is Lost falls into the last category. Robert Redford described working on the film, “like stepping into a painting.”

It’s about a man (IMBD credits him as “Our Man” because we never learn his name) whose sailboat is damaged by a floating shipping container. Here begin his efforts to save his boat and himself, encouring a series of unfortunate events and harsh elements. The ending is the most emotional piece of cinema I’ve ever seen. Not many movies cause me to weep openly. Well OK, I fully admit that the right baby commercial can make me tear up, but in this case my crying was effusive. My reaction surprised me. If you have not seen the movie, please STOP reading now and come back later!

This is a film for someone who has lived a little. It will resonate with people who have striven for something, perhaps hopelessly. It will make you wax philosophical. In a way, the movie is like an indie-budget version of Gravity. But I enjoyed All is Lost so much more and Redford’s portrayal as a person adrift is superior. I can’t think of an adjective that describes this film succinctly so let’s just say it is magnificent. Redford is brilliant.

It’s been a few hours since I watched it and it still has me thinking. So many scenes seemed allegorical to me. Inexplicably, I feel inspired to sail. Probably because there is something romantic and a little bit poetic about the act of sailing—to be out in the ocean alone, rising and falling, rising and falling. Aren’t we all.