'Society of the Snow' Tells A Familiar Yet Captivating Story
A thrilling, nail-biting movie based on a true story, Society of the Snow doesn't hold back on grisly imagery, terrifying the audience. The story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 has been adapted several times for the screen before. Society of the Snow is the latest iteration to get cinema attention. The job director J.A. Bayona does is fantastic. This film has some of the most visceral moments of carnage I have seen in a film in years. It's not manipulative violence but rather brutality that is necessary to communicate the feeling of a terrible event.
The plane crash is the best one I've ever seen in a film. It's raw as hell. At first, all the passengers take the turbulence with a grain of salt. But as the sequence continues and things get serious, nobody is laughing anymore. As an audience, we know what's going to happen when everyone gets on that plain. What you may not be prepared for is how real that plane crash gets. If you're planning on taking a flight during the holidays, this film will scare you away from entering an aircraft vehicle. The sequence is mostly shot through Numa Turcatti's (Enzo Vogrincic) point of view. One of the most haunting shots is a simple one of Numa looking at a descending wing through his window. The wing gets closer and closer to a snowy mountain until there is an impact. When the plane crashes, the seats crush the bodies, even turning one person's head into smashed meat. People fly out of the ripped plane, and you can feel every collision.
The movie doesn't take long to get to the point. The story opens with a helicopter shot of the Andes mountains. During the shot, Numa narrates the picture. He speaks of survival and how it's impossible to describe what it's like to be in the situation he finds himself in. The best way to understand it is to go to the mountains. The film then transitions to the days before the crash, following the perspective of a Uruguayan rugby team. We briefly get to know the players, but the film doesn't focus too heavily on them as individuals, as it might cause the movie to drag.
By providing occasional narration to the story, Numa's voice-over gives a nuanced perspective of the plot, getting the viewer into his head. The film has characters asking existential questions like why is there a God? If he does exist, why would he do this to the passengers on this plane? What of those who never survived? Why did God let them die?
The narrative is harrowing as the situation for our characters grows worse and worse. If the movie weren't based on a true story, it wouldn't be as thrilling as it is. How anyone comes out alive is an absolute shock. Thinking the plane crash is the peak of the movie, the film has more incredible sequences ahead. There's a scene where the survivors get stuck when an avalanche buries the cockpit that everyone is nesting in. Trapped, our heroes must find a way to dig themselves out. It's an extremely claustrophobic sequence that's petrifying. Much of the film is horror. But there's also optimism.
Through the determination of the film's main characters, they find a way back to society. The story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 is one of terror, despair, and hope. Society of the Snow is the typical legend of survival that goes in some unexpected directions. Just when you think you know where the film is going, it takes a left turn. It's not a huge turn in the other direction, but a notable one.
If there's a caveat to the film, it's that we know the outcome. The story of Flight 571 has been told multiple times through 1985's Alive, 1976's Survive!, and several documentaries. The question of "Will they survive?" turns into "When do they survive?" breaking the suspense partially. One other thing that hurts the film is its score. Much of the music sounds cheesy when it gets to its inspirational bits, where I'm hearing a synthesizer instead of an orchestra. I also wonder how some people are clean-shaven despite being stranded in the mountains for two months. There's also a slight pacing issue towards the end of the film. Small details like that slightly took me out of the picture. But it's not much to complain about when the movie is so gripping.
J.A. Bayona crafts a terrifying yet hopeful tale of people helping each other out in a time of need. The passengers of flight 571 didn't die in vain. Their spirits live on in this melancholic piece of defeating adversity. The conditions of the Andes mountains seem impossible to survive in. Yet some came out alive by facing the harsh cold with a determination to find help. The narrative of this film may be familiar, but it doesn't stop it from being captivating.
