•
Rating: Recently, I wrote in a review, commenting, that "a little bit of horror doesn't hurt." Perhaps a strong statement, but it's undeniable that joy and pain can intertwine in existence and sometimes one might face a painful trial, after which one will be profoundly changed.
If the above might raise doubts, then it's worth watching this film available on the Netflix platform titled "The Society of the Snow." Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and inspired by the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, it is an effective and faithful representation, devoid of embellishments, of an air tragedy that occurred back in 1972 (an incident that had already inspired two previous films). Nothing fictional in this disaster movie, just the tragic odyssey of the passengers of Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force. Taking off from Montevideo on October 12, 1972, and destined for Santiago, Chile, the plane, carrying 45 people (mostly members of a Uruguayan rugby team) crashed due to technical errors in a section of the Andes mountain range. The 16 survivors were rescued only on December 23, 1972, after 71 dreadful days spent in an inhospitable area and in prohibitive conditions.
I'll let you imagine what it means to survive at high altitudes, with nighttime temperatures around 30 degrees below zero (and in that part of the hemisphere, the period between October and December would correspond to our spring, but alas, in high mountains, the cold is severe..), with food rations exhausted after the first week and extreme difficulty in being located by aerial reconnaissance. Needless to say (and here the film wonderfully highlights the psychological and moral torment) that to live, one must sustain oneself, and the only edible life forms in the area are the corpses of passengers who died first from the impact and then from cold and starvation. What to do when hunger pangs strike and outside the intact remains of the plane fuselage the storm's cold prevails? The moral dilemmas, of course, diminish and when this nightmare ends with the arrival of the rescue, the survivors will be individuals tried both physically and psychologically.
So, there isn't a real happy ending. The director masterfully represents the phases of the air impact on the Andes mountain range, without then dwelling on the practical horror aspects of the forced choice of cannibalism. Rather, he shows us the moral turmoil of the various characters (valiantly portrayed by debut actors) who question what meaning their experiences have and, in all this, where God is and, once closed, why some survived and others did not. And then: what does it mean to survive?
In short, all hefty questions that also challenge the consciences of us viewers, as we witness an incredible yet true saga from which only a few with a resilient physique will survive (far more demanding than a regular rugby match). Certainly, the drive to survive, as the director subtly suggests, is given by a team spirit that allows for incredible solidarity (and here doubt may arise that many of those involved in the disaster during those terrible 71 days were tempted by the instinct to save themselves without regard for their companions in misfortune). But it is also true that, in extreme situations, a human being can perform incredible actions such as leaving instructions to use one's body in favor of the survivors.
A viewing of a tough film, from which one emerges with the following legitimate question: if I had been present in that instance, what would I have done?
Loading comments slowly
