ABSTRACT
Caleb Deschanel’s 1989 film Crusoe is a visually stunning revision of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). Set in the nineteenth century, Deschanel’s Crusoe is a southern aristocrat who sets off from America on a venture to bring slaves from Africa. He is caught in a storm, shipwrecked on an uncharted island and, after some time, he too encounters natives performing a ritual of human sacrifice. Crusoe rescues an intended victim, and nicknames him Lucky because there is no one to sell him to. In an intriguing twist to the classic plot, Lucky is slain during the night and Crusoe finds himself wrestling with the native warrior who evidently did the deed. However, rather than kill Crusoe, the warrior saves him from drowning when they roll into quicksand. From this moment onward the two men struggle to coexist on the island despite their individual prejudices and the language barrier, and a relationship of mutual respect eventually develops between them. When natural scientists on a specimen-collecting mission arrive from “civilization,” they capture the warrior and lock him in a cage on their ship anchored offshore. Now, Crusoe must make a choice.
