A powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit
Never underestimate the human will to survive. Some of us have an understanding of this from personal experience, while the rest of us likely know what people can be capable of from those true-life movies that have given us a harrowing insight into what the courageous will do to save themselves from near-certain death.
We’re thinking of Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, for example, which documented the ordeal of Aron Ralston, who, when literally stuck between a rock and a hard place, severed a limb to free himself from what could have been his desert grave. Then there’s Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn, a compelling movie about US Navy Pilot Dieter Dengler and the lengths he went through to survive during his captivity at a brutal Vietnamese POW camp.
These movies give us cause to question our own lives and what we might do to survive in the face of overwhelming odds. Society of the Snow, the latest film from J.A. Bayona (The Impossible), tells another survival story that could give us cause to think as it retells the story of the doomed Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which, in 1972, struck a mountain in the Andes after the pilot misjudged his location.
As depicted in the film, the aircraft splintered, losing its wings and tail on impact before it slid down the mountain at incredible speed. Twelve people were killed during the initial crash and five more people died that first night as a result of injury and the deathly cold of the subzero temperatures. Further trauma followed as the remaining passengers did what they needed to do to survive during their 72-day ordeal. This attempt to survive included the passengers’ consumption of their dead comrades. Their decision may be hard to stomach for some but consider this: What would you do if you were starving with no other food to eat after polishing off your remaining rations?
After the beginning of the film, where we are introduced to the passengers of the flight, who are predominantly made up of members of a Uruguayan rugby team, we watch as the tragedy unfolds. This begins with the plane crash which is frighteningly depicted. We watch as people are crushed to death between seats, flung into the air, and forcibly sucked out of the aircraft where the tail used to be. The special effects here are breathtakingly impressive and mercifully played out without slow-mo or other directorial flourishes. Bayona simply portrays the crash as it presumably happened, in realistic fashion, with all of its bone-crunching intensity to bring us closer to this terrible event.
As you’ll know already if you are familiar with the story, be that via the 1993 film Alive, online research, or Pablo Vierci’s book of the same name (on which this film is based), the horrors didn’t stop with the crash. As is retold in the film, the 33 surviving passengers dwindled in number after the initial collision due to the harshness of the cold and two back-to-back avalanches which crushed to death some of those who were taking refuge in the plane’s wreckage. As each death occurs in the film, the deceased’s names are respectively displayed on screen as a reminder to us of the real-life people who died in the tragedy.
The film feels authentic, not only due to Bayona’s directorial skill and the talented acting of the players but also because of the shooting locations chosen. These include the Sierra Nevada mountains where many of the scenes were filmed (with artificial snow) and the actual crash site in the Andes where aerial footage was taken. It’s this authenticity that brings us closer to the plight of the passengers of Flight 751 and the treacherous nature of their surroundings.
Society of the Snow is not an easy watch. The crash and avalanche scenes are harrowing enough but it’s what the fated passengers did to survive that will turn the most stomachs. But despite the assertion of some critics that this is a ‘cannibal movie,’ you shouldn’t be put off by that reductive description.
Yes, the survivors are forced to eat the bodies of their fallen friends to save themselves from hunger but these scenes aren’t overly gratuitous. This film isn’t Cannibal Holocaust or Silence of the Lambs! Instead, Bayona wisely chooses to play these scenes sensitively, placing his focus on the tortured expressions of the passengers as they grapple with what they need to do to stave off hunger, rather than showing them cutting open the bodies of the deceased.
As such, this isn’t as gruesome a film as you might expect, despite the cannibalistic aspects of the story. In fact, it’s a rather beautiful film at times, in terms of both the setting in all its white, majestic glory, and within its study of loyalty and sacrifice, two traits that demonstrate the best of mankind. Mention must also go to Michael Giacchino’s score which hits all the right emotional notes, warmly embracing the spirit of camaraderie instead of revelling in doom-laden tones during the darker chapters.
Society of the Snow is an early contender for one of the best films of the year. Direction, photography, acting, and music are all impeccable, so we imagine this will pick up many award nominations over the next few months. It’s a remarkable tribute to the bravery and resilience of those who survived the Andes plane crash, and it’s also a thrilling, albeit, harrowing survival tale that should inspire rather than revolt you.
Read More: Society of the Snow Ending Explained
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Verdict - 8.5/10
8.5/10