Despite the vast transformations in technology and culture since then, the basic beats of desert island movies have remained the same. Using desert island movies from across the last century, we’ve constructed a comprehensive guide to cinematic island life. In the desert island movie, neither a happy ending—or any ending at all—is guaranteed. Lessons from the islandsThe way desert island movies underline the fundamental helplessness of human beings is what has made them so perversely and perennially intriguing. That waiting would be dead air in most films, but in desert island movies, it’s often the meat of the story.