+2
Castaway was an interesting movie, but I don't know that it's a "How To" on surviving on a deserted island. For one thing, it was kind of convenient that the crashed plane offered up manufactured conveniences that made his life easier. It seemed to almost be an analogy, honestly, about homelessness. Especially when Hanks is sporting sun-bleached, wild hair and an untrimmed beard, running around in his filthy rags. To further this impression, it's actually a porta-potty - like what a bum might use - that thrusts him onto a crossroads to take a desperate gamble, or finally submit to circumstance.
Later, when he's overcome his homelessness, the end of the movie finds him at yet another crossroads, where he's "homeless" by his own choosing, that's under his control, this time. And this analogy has never been confirmed by the filmmakers, but that's what I got out of it. So, yeah, it's got that gimmick of "Alone on a Deserted Island" that none of us will ever know, but the actual situation they're referring to could happen to anybody. I think that's what's so enduring about the story, the movie.