Hi Readers,
I would normally save this post for next week but after seeing this film a few days ago on Netflix I felt compelled to write a review especially ahead of its Oscar nominations. I don’t think it has received as much recognition as it should, given the quality of the acting and production.
I didn’t really know anything about the story before the film came out as it hasn’t really entered popular culture in the same way as other events from the 70s have previously. I loved that even though the film has American backing from Netflix, the director is Spanish and a lot of the cast are from Uruguay where the characters in the film are from. The film is also in Spanish but don’t let that put you off as even though I know basic Spanish, I used the subtitles and that didn’t detract from the film. It was interesting to hear some phrases spoken differently in South America as opposed to the Spanish spoken in Spain that I have learnt at school and from Spanish friends.
The Society of the Snow (2023)
The film shows the incredible, unbelievable true story of a rugby team crashing over the Andes in their aeroplane in 1972 on their way to a match in Chile from their home nation of Uruguay. Many people died in the crash and in the first few days but 16 people managed to survive in the mountain valley surrounded by snow for 71 days before rescue.
One of the controversial elements that had people at the time turning against them was that they had to eat the flesh of their fellow dead passengers to survive. If you’re squeamish or anything, don’t worry, this is not shown in any detail and what you see them eating is not identifiable. One of the first hurdles they overcome is the decision whether to wait for rescue or to do this. There were a lot of moral/religious arguments with many characters holding out for 10 days with no food but in the end, there was no other choice.
For using all unknown actors, some of whom had never been on screen or acted much before, the quality of the drama was amazing. I knew exactly what they were thinking even though we only got the thoughts of Numa (Enzo Vogrincic) during the film. After watching the behind the scenes documentary, also available on Netflix, you gain a greater understanding of how they managed to film the scenes, even going back to the original crash site.
I thought the Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling was well deserved as over the course of the film, the facial hair grew and their faces became more sunburned and it looked very realistic. It should be noted as well that the actors followed a diet plan to lose weight safely to portray the characters.
I thought the actor playing Roberto Canessa – Matías Recalt, one of the main characters and a medical student was a standout. He was a great leader for the team, volunteering to go up the side of the mountain several times and I could see on his face, the way every decision weighed on him. He was not as beefy as some of the guys but had a strong presence and was apparently one of the strongest players on the team.
It’s hard to describe the effect that this film has on the viewer but I think its the fact that the situation could have easily been met with defeat or turned into a Lord of the Flies scenario but the survivors all banded together and did their best to help one another survive even thought some of them didn’t know each other very well.
One of the frustrating points in the plot is that you hear rescue planes going over the valley on day 2 when 27 of them were still alive but because of the geological features even flying directly overhead, the plane crash site couldn’t be seen.
When the decision to finally try and get help was made, it seems like civilisation was so near to them but it took them a long time to build up strength to even climb the side of the valley to the tail of the plane, let alone hike for 10 days in the freezing temperatures.
I think that this was a great film and definitely deserves to win Best International Feature at the Oscars. The director J.A Bayona is known for such films as The Impossible and A Monster Calls but during the documentary you could tell the passion he has for this project even directing from a booth when he had Covid during shooting.
I can’t wait to see the cast act in more projects and I would watch this film again. I give it 5/5.
Happy Watching,
Robyn
