Testament to human spirit

Gurnaaz Kaur

The real-life tragedy of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, the plane that crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972, carrying a rugby team to play a match in Chile, has been documented on screen and as a book before. How 45 passengers battle extreme conditions, including avalanches, freezing temperatures in high altitudes and lack of food for more than two months, and in the end 16 persons survive, this ‘Miracle of the Andes’ is as much a tale of horror as a story of survival and morals.

This time when Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona chronicles the gut-wrenching events surrounding the 1972 crash, it’s still as harrowing, tragic and inspiring as it can get. While on the surface, the movie highlights the lengths to which individuals can go to endure extreme conditions and survive against the odds, it’s the sensitivity with which the filmmaker has narrated it that makes ‘Society of the Snow’ heartbreakingly effective.

The movie captures the most traumatic aspects of the miraculous tale of these ordinary men or anti-heroes, as we may call them, with such intimacy that you feel engulfed in anxiety and experience similar stressful emotions and hope for their triumph as if they are your own. But that’s what humanity is and that’s exactly what those who were stuck in the unimaginable, unforgivable conditions on a glacier lived through.

In Bayona’s ‘Society of the Snow’, Spain’s official entry to the 2024 Oscars, it’s the will of the human spirit that takes precedence. Even in the most devastating of circumstances, there’s love and compassion.

The cinematography is par excellence. In scenes when the camera pans through the desolate terrains or in wide shots when it captures the expansive landscapes, you derive the magnitude of the situation, without a dialogue or tune. And when it’s the tight close-ups of various characters struggling for life and death within the frozen fuselage, your heart shrinks. Along with these powerful visuals is an equally captivating, evocative melody in the background that adds to the intensity.

While we talk of picturisation and background score, the initial plane crash sequence, even though brief, is one of the most haunting shots in the film. It surely elevates the movie and makes you aware of the catastrophe, but soon, the story navigates to the plight of the characters. When the survivors resort to cannibalism, it’s a clash between morals and unbridled hunger, a point that has been poignantly put across in dialogues and scenes alike.

There’s juxtaposition of hope and despair, a test of faith and fortitude, and along the way, when characters in ‘Society of the Snow’ question the whole event, it nudges you too to think. And as the movie ends, it philosophically hints that the answer lies within, leaving everyone with more than one question.

Beyond its technical strength and stellar performances, this testament to human spirit and brotherhood is an impressive watch that leaves you in awe.