remember that mr. hanks is married to rita wilson.
that tooth scene was just… one of the most horrific scenes ever.
I liked it. It was one of the things that set Cast Away apart from the endless Robinson Crusoe Fantasy* movies about how much better your life would be without all of the other people around. It wasn’t realistic per se, although it did realistically depict the kinds of things you have to do for yourself without a society and technology around you, but it did emphasize how different even simple medical procedures are when you no longer have effective medicine. It was one of the things that reminded you the film was from the 2000s, not the 1930s.
*(As distinct from the real novel called Robinson Crusoe, which is more about being removed from European society and having to survive among ‘savages’ who, incidentally, don’t run a massive slave trade.)
That part where he and Wilson are sitting in the sand staring at the upright piece of metal they will eventually use as a raft was reportedly a homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Hanks’ favorite film. Other homages include to The Ten Commandments and the British television series The Prisoner. See here.