Cast Away - 2000

Tom Hanks plays a FedEx employee who operates in the field, working with lagging stations. He tells them that 'time is the enemy' but they must never turn their back on it. His girlfriend and near fiancee, Helen Hunt, patiently deals with his brief fly-bys through Memphis. He is interrupted at a Christmas dinner but promises her that he'll be back by New Year's Eve. As he leaves for the plane he gives her a ring box, asking her not to open it until he returns. Then he tells her he'll be right back.
Well, it doesn't work out like that. The FedEx plane crashes into the south Pacific and Hanks becomes the only survivor, washed ashore on a deserted island. He opens up several packages that wrapped up on the island and uses them to convert the island into a live-able situation. He leaves one package because he's impressed by a set of wings painted on them.
One of the other packages includes a volleyball. An accidental bloody palm print makes a kind of face and the ball (named Wilson) becomes Hanks only friend on the island. This also serves as the springboard for the only bits of dialogue of the middle part of the film.
Eventually he gets back to regular life. He's been missing for more than four years. His girlfriend has moved on and remarried. Hanks must start to recreate a life. His first step involves delivering that one special package.

This is a great movie. The survival story is especially well told. Even the bit with the volleyball works. Hanks is especially impressive as he must carry the story all on his own for most of the movie. The music is spare, only really coming up in the last part of the movie.
The only part that didn't work for me was the homecoming to his girlfriend. I know what they were working towards but it needed a defter touch than it got. Or possibly it's own movie. (I also could have done without the self dentistry but that's just me.)
A great movie.