Diana Nyad is the first person to swim more than 100 miles from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida without a protective shark cage. The date was September 2, 2013. Nyad reached Florida shore after 53 hours of swimming in open water at the age of 64.
First off, I’m aware of the controversy surrounding this achievement of Nyad’s, as well as those of her past as a marathon swimmer. However, I’m here to discuss the movie NYAD only, so that’s what this post is about. The movie is based on Diana Nyad’s memoir Find a Way: the Inspiring Story of One Woman’s Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream (2016); since I’ve not read the book, I won’t be touching on any of its content or comparing the source material with the adaptation.
NYAD is the first narrative feature of Oscar winning documentarian couple Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Chin himself is no stranger to extreme sports. An acclaimed mountaineer and National Geographic photographer who has reached the top of Mount Everest twice and skied down its vertical surface. With Free Solo (my review), the husband-and-wife filmmakers won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar in 2019. The film chronicles rock climber Alex Honnold scaling the 3,000 feet vertical wall of El Capitan in California’s Yosemite National Park using his bare hands and feet, solo and free from ropes and safety gears.
I can see right away how this feat of Honnold’s parallels that of Nyad’s, who swam in the open ocean with no enclosed protection from sharks, albeit in her successful, final attempt, donned a jellyfish protective suit to finish her challenge. Both the mountain climber and the marathon swimmer possess the same drive: an obsessive, iron will.
Annette Bening is perfect in her portrayal of Nyad, a determined but difficult, and sometimes abrasive character. It takes such kind of one-track stubbornness––and a whole supporting team including an expert navigator (John Bartlett, aptly played by Rhys Ifans), boat pilot, medic, jellyfish expert, shark detracting divers, and others––sailing alongside the marathon swimmer to achieve such an arduous venture.
Above all, it’s Nyad’s lifelong friend and coach Bonnie Stoll––superbly-matched casting of Jodie Foster––who supports and trains her during this grueling ordeal, albeit reluctantly at the start. Nyad might be the ultimate triumph, but it is Bonnie, the loyal friend being pushed into her own onerous hero’s journey that makes it possible, preparing the swimmer both physically and psychologically to realize her dream. Bening and Foster playing off each other is the best stroke of the movie. A moving scene towards the end shifts the focus of the motivating force, surely it requires an indomitable will, but it’s deep, genuine love that finishes the course.
As documentary filmmakers shooting their first dramatic narrative, Chin and Vasarhelyi deftly insert actual footage of Nyad’s earlier failed attempts, the first one when she was only 28, as well as her interviews and talks. Such inclusions strengthen the authenticity of the drama. It’s inspiring to see that Nyad is not afraid to look at her past failures. Ironically, it is her first failed attempt at 28 that sparks the idea to try again when she’s 60, and prods her to face the challenge head-on at 61, then tries again, and again, until she finally achieves her goal in her fifth attempt at 64. Showing such repeated efforts could make the film look redundant, but Bening and Foster’s on screen relationship captures my attention throughout.
Bening needs to be applauded for her willingness to go all out to portray Nyad in the most realistic way she could. Chin had noted in an interview that the actress spent four to eight hours a day in the water shooting the film, “and she did all the swimming.” To prepare for her role, Bening, who was well into her 60’s at the time, had to go through a year of intense training in swimming and physicality before the production. Most likely Mary Oliver had struck Bening just the same as her poetic voice had moved Nyad. In the movie, these lines from ‘The Summer Day’ were the initial motivation inspiring Nyad to take up such a Herculean challenge at 60:
“Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
Another insertion the directors use to dramatize the seemingly monotonous swims is fantasy sequences, which are not too well received by some reviewers. Not for me. Like one lost in the desert wearing out to the brink of expiring with thirst, mirages appear in the hallucinated mind. This is a parallel situation. In the dire demand of the grueling swim in treacherous waters almost to the brink of death, disorientation could set in.
Another dramatic device are the faded flashbacks of Nyad as a young swimmer, including some hazy implications of abuse. While serving the biopic element of the feature, these flashbacks lack the significance and continuity with the present day Nyad and her goal. Tighter editing and elaboration of these scenes might serve their purpose better.
Must mention is the original score by Alexandre Desplat whose expansive repertoire include two Oscar wins (The Shape of Water, The Grand Budapest Hotel). The song selections are interesting as well, maybe only appeal to certain demographics; some of these titles must have brought back fond memories from viewers of Nyad’s generation. The opening of the film are underwater shots of Nyad swimming in the pool, and to my pleasant surprise, ‘The Sound of Silence’ comes on, reminiscence of a similar scene where a dazed Benjamin, freshly graduated from college trying to figure out his path in life. We all know where that comes from.
I’m excited to see Chin and Vasarhelyi venture out into the narrative feature genre. The fusion of dramatization with actual documentary footage is an effective transition into their new mode of storytelling. NYAD is an inspiring film not just for its subject matter but for the performance of the two lead actors which is most memorable.
~ ~ ~ Ripples
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