Movie Review: Nyad

When I first heard while watching the movie Nyad, about the all-time greatest long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad that it takes 60 hours to swim 103 hours from Key West Florida to Cuba I thought about how hard it must have been just to stay awake for 60 hours (the record is 19 days). Then add the incredible achievement of swimming in a dangerous shark and jellyfish ocean non-stop for 103 miles. This achievement is probably the most impressive of any long distance athlete in history.

During this very good drama/biography about Diana Nyad, her full story is revealed about the first attempt in 1978 to swim from Cuba to Key West followed by the years 2011 and 2013 and five more attempts, when Diana was over the age of 60. The odds are extremely high that nobody will ever be able to achieve this 103-mile swim from Cuba to Key West Florida again, no matter how old they are. There are too many problems with ocean currents, jellyfish, sharks and cold water. Most people would just give up after 1 attempt, especially if they almost died like Diana, who was in grave danger of dying several times.

On August 31, 2013, Nyad finally achieved her life long dream at age 64, of finally swimming to Key West from Cuba on 1:55 PM EDT on September 2, 2013 after 53 hours of swimming. The most impressive thing about this impossible task was that Nyad never gave up trying, even after everybody around her did.

The movie stars Annette Bening as Nyad and Jodie Foster as Bonnie Stoll, Diana’s lifelong friend and trainer. Both performances are excellent throughout this story which is entirely about Dianna’s nonstop obsession of achieving her impossible dream. This story has many highs and lows and after the 4th attempt that was close but once again failed, it seemed that this impossible dream was finally over until Diana tried one last time when she was 64 years old. One can only imagine the pain of swimming for 60 hours in the ocean while swallowing sea water, with your face constantly swelling and damaged by the harsh conditions.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for Nyad are a very high 86% and I recommend this film.