Nyad: A Splash of Mythos

Diana Nyad, the water nymph, a legend in the sea, fearlessly holds several open water swimming records over the span of her career, some of her records include the women’s record for the Gulf of Naples race, swimming around the island of manhattan in record speed and many more. However, one trip she would like to make most: Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, over the span of 110 miles (180 kilometers), through the rough gulf stream and dangerous marine animals. In “Nyad”, made by director duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, we see a true story come to life once again, through great performances and sometimes questionable writing, we get a review of what happened in 2011, when she started training again at the age of 60, to finally make the dangerous and amazing crossing that no man or woman has ever done before. “Nyad” is based on the autobiography “Find A Way” by Diana Nyad and written for the screen by Julia Cox.

30 years after failing to make the crossing from Cuba to Florida, Diana Nyad, portrayed by Annette Bening, now 60, lives her life with her best friend Bonnie Stroll, portrayed by Jodie Foster. Over the years, Nyad has done many things concerning sport and everything around it: broadcaster, motivational speaker, author, … still even now she’s speaking of her destiny as the “water nymph” where her last name is derived from Greek mythology, being of Greek descent herself. It’s very clear Diana is far from over her years being obsessed with everything sports, but most of all, swimming. 

Bonnie sees that Diana wants more than what she has now and speaks of finding something, to get her “funk” back, as they call it in the movie. So, Diana obliged, and against her own self-esteem, jumped back into a pool to start swimming again. Seeing how much she loved to jump into that abyss once more, she starts to dream again, everything that had laid dormant for 30 years came bubbling up like an underwater fire. Feeling reinvigorated, she runs to Bonnie to tell her her big idea: after more than 30 years of failing the Cuba-Florida swim, she wants to attempt it once more at the age of 60.

After a little bit of persuasion and a trip down to Mexico for a testrun, Diana does get Bonnie to be her coach and guide her towards her goal, seeing that Diana still has that spark in her that makes even Bonnie believe it to be possible. When finally August 7, 2011 came, she jumped into the water to make her long and cruel journey. The only thing in the way was 180 kilometers, a strong current, aggressive marine animals such as sharks and jellyfish and above all, her own mind.

The performances, as seen from the 2 oscar nominations, were clearly the most important factor of this movie, with Annette Benning playing the charismatic, energetic and strong Diana Nyad. She completely disappears in this role, the mannerism, the way she swims, all is exactly the same as the original water nymph, which strengthens the believability of the story. Next to her, we have our always reliable Jodie Foster, with whom the chemistry was always top notch, telling a compelling story about friendship and dedication through the eyes of a born coach, but above all, a best friend. 

There are some other elements that can be commented on, like the selection of music and the absence of the soundtrack. Alexander Desplat, renowned composer, made the soundtrack “Nyad”, which was very underused or in the end not very impactful.

One wild and precious life.

From the beginning on there are a lot of references to this poem “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver, knowing what the poem is about will help us understand a little bit more what the underlying tone and theme of the movie is. The poem is about a grasshopper that’s just been jumping around in the tall grass all day and in the poem a lot of focus is laid on how different the grasshopper is in his surroundings, the way his jaw moves, the big eyes and how it unfurls its wings and flies away. The author notices all these things, also the fact that actually all it does is jump around in the grass all day, but that that is also exactly what she can do, in the end, they’re not that different, they might look different, but one thing connects us all, death. 

That was kind of dark all of a sudden but that is what the poem ends on, eventually… it will die, and it will have spent its life living here, hopping around in the grass, but it is a life well spent. Not everyone has the chance to just lie back in the grass and enjoy the sun and the wind, or maybe not anymore, but when you can, you treasure it. The core message of the poem is that from time to time we need to enjoy life, what is a “productive day” anyway, we need to do what we love, because before we know it, we’re gone.

It summarizes the theme pretty well, Nyad’s main motivation to do it again is to prove a point, but also proof to the outside world that nothing can stop you from having your dreams come true, to have your one wild and precious life.

In the end “Nyad” is an interesting tale about never giving up, untying yourself from your past and living on your dreams, yet the way it’s being told is not always as successful as the makers would’ve wished, and from time to time the writing, visual effects and overall narrative take a dip, which doesn’t do the story being told any good. I would recommend watching this movie on a day you really need to get something done so it can make you feel motivated and productive, yet that feeling I didn’t get as often watching this. It is a story about a motivational and productive legend, for sure, but I’m not sure the message of never giving up comes across as strong as they tried to.

Nyad is now available to stream on Netflix.