Released: 4th January 2024 (Netflix)
Length: 144 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Director: J.A Bayona
Starring: Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Tomas Wolf, Diego Vegezzi, Marcelo Pérez del Castillo, Esteban Kukuriczka, Francisco Romero, Rafael Federman and many others.
When he isn’t working on large-scale blockbusters, J.A Bayona has a penchant for disaster films with a human heart at the centre. Just like The Impossible before it, Bayona and his crew have delivered another excellent production, one that brings the right amount of levity, authenticity and respectful portrayals.
In October 1972, a rugby team set off from Uruguay to Chile for a major match; the forty-five passengers on-board were thrust into a nightmare as their plane crashed high in the Andes mid-flight. Stranded with little to no food or means of rescue, the survivors were forced to take extreme measures to survive as they endured an astonishing two months cut off from civilization. With the exception of some poignant flashbacks to the passengers with their families and the final act, Society Of The Snow takes place in the plane wreckage and the surrounding landscape. The survivors do everything they can to stay alive, gathering resources, searching for the tail end of the plane and in their most desperate hour, turn to each other for food. As they endure the frigid cold, dangerous avalanches and choking atmosphere sickness, the film takes the time to linger on the characters and their inner thoughts. In this way, their individual personalities complement each other and we never lose sight of their hopeful spirit. Every piece of their story has been meticulously crafted, placing the viewer in the mountains with them; it wisely focuses on a sense of shared humanity rather than going overboard on the nastier elements.
Most of the cast is relatively new to the silver screen and they all do superb work in their roles. The film pays respects to every individual involved in the crash, listing their names throughout the narrative, but Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic) is the lead perspective; he narrates and reflects on the group’s struggle, always conveying what they are going through and their sense of determination. It’s deeply arresting to watch them discuss the ethics of survival one moment and desperately recover from being snowed under the next. Nando Parrado (Agustín Pardella) plays to his strengths, Roy Harley (Andy Pruss) attempts to get the plane radio working and other medical students put their skills to work. The survivors are all given equal attention and we share in their plight; right from the start, between hope and despair, the emotional intensity never waivers. When they band together with a shared sense of resourcefulness, you feel their desire to return home. One especially gruelling moment comes when search and rescue efforts are called off, allowing the audience to share in their devastation. All of these powerful moments feed into the ultimate outcome, a sense of overwhelming relief.
Of course, the core of the action unfolds through a series of gruesome injuries with the opening crash being the most impactful. The violence is abrupt and incredibly unsettling. This later transitions into the slow, agonising hunger that constantly hangs over the survivors. The cinematography can be split into two halves; visceral and far-reaching. When the passengers are going through such horrific events, the camera leans into their faces, showing the raw suffering that unfolded. Then the lens pans out and we see the tremendous scale of the Andes; the setting is beautiful, but also frightening, emphasising how isolated the characters are from society. This same split also applies to the music; at times it can be very serene when we see the vast mountains, but the tracks really heat up alongside the intense emotions. Every piece of the soundtrack is perfectly placed with the emotional peak stealing in at the film’s conclusion.
Powerful, measured and moving; Society of the Snow is a brilliant retelling of a harrowing struggle for survival. It commits itself fully to the victims and what they went through, emphasising their humanity and overcoming the most impossible odds. If you can stomach the brutal nature of the ordeal, the film will deliver on all fronts.
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars (Brilliant)
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