Review 749: Society of the Snow

 

Society of the Snow, J. A. Bayona's powerful retelling of the 1972 Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes mountains is a tense, gruelling experience that's a tough watch but is also moving, heartfelt and emotionally rewarding.

The film follows the very real story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which the Uruguayan rugby team  Out of the 45 passengers on board, 29 survived 

Society of the Snow beautifully illustrates the majestic and terrible spirit of the Andes Mountains where  is in full force.  

The facts are undeniably scary as shown in a brilliantly executed sequence, the plane was sliced in half, crashing into a mountain and most of the passengers were killed instantly. 

At its core, Society of the Snow, is a celebration of survival and the endurance of the human spirit. 

"If I die, I give you permission to eat my body" the passengers start saying to each other. As unsettling as that sounds, there's also a lot of religious overtones to it.   It's an endurance test for everyone involved. If they'd given up, then it would've all been for nothing. The survivors are forced to cannibalism because it's a matter of life and death.   

Bayona wastes no time in establishing these people  You probably shouldn't get too attached to them. Much like Paul Greengrass' United 93, most of the players are played by Uruguayan and Argentine actors, most of them newcomers. This lends the film a sense of authen   the score by Michael Giacchino is beautiful