Starring Anette Benning and Jodie Foster, Nyad tells the true story of Diana Nyad. If you don’t know her, like me, she is a celebrated long-distance swimmer. She has many records under her belt but this film follows her greatest attempt in 2010. To swim from Cuba to Florida.
Diana attempted it when she was 28 and did not succeed, now at 60 she feels unfulfilled and wants to achieve it. She enlists her best friend Bonnie (Foster) as her coach and together they set off to Cuba, to raise money, find a team and achieve the supposedly unachievable.
I really enjoyed Nyad. It’s a brilliant film about the endurance of the human spirit. Diana herself, portrayed by Benning, is a force of nature. She gives off the presence of someone who you need to be on the same wavelength with otherwise you will grow tired of her quickly. It is obvious though that if she loves you, she loves you, she just has to get past herself a lot. It’s an interesting journey as you root for her to achieve this goal.
Along that journey is Bonnie (Foster) and she’s the character I really appreciate. She does so much for Diana and it feels for a lot of the film, Diana doesn’t truly understand how much she needs Bonnie. Foster brings an understated performance to Bonnie and it’s relatable. It’s easy to be the over-the-top, whirlwind character that takes up all the energy in the room, to be truly memorable is to be truly relatable and that’s what I saw in Bonnie.
Another excellent performance in the film is from Rhy Ifans, who plans Jon Bartlett the navigator of the team. He’s a pessimist, has to ensure that safety is guaranteed for Diana and that has them butt heads quite a bit.
Along with these performances is a genuinely compelling story. Watching Diana try and achieve this is subtly emotional. I say this because I didn’t realise how invested I was until two-thirds of the way through the film when I found myself tearing up. Learning about what could happen to someone who has been swimming for dozens of hours is fascinating and at times horrifying. Also, Diana was not only in danger due to health issues that could crop up but also creatures of the ocean that might try and mess with Diana.
The cinematography at times was also quite imaginative. As Diana is out there, she has to keep her mind sharp and aware and when it wanders, things get weird and I thought these were eccentric but interesting moments.
Going into Nyad I wasn’t sure what I expected. Coming out of it, I was thrilled. I highly recommend it to fans of true stories with award-worthy performances.
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