La sociedad de la nieve (Society of the Snow)
2023
****½
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Tomas Wolf, Diego Vegezzi, Esteban Kukuriczka, Francisco Romero, Rafael Federman, Felipe González Otaño, Agustín Della Corte, Valentino Alonso
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, carrying a rugby team from Uruguay along with their friends and family, crashed in the Andes mountains in October 1972. With extreme weather and declining food supplies, the survivors were forced to resort to drastic measures, which included cannibalism. Their harrowing survival story was previously filmed in Frank Marshall's well-made but clunky Alive (1993). J.A. Bayona's version has more or less the same exact story structure, but the Spanish language makes everything more authentic and Bayona's directorial skills turn the events into a supremely gripping and realistic drama. The cast, who are mostly unknown actors from Uruguay and Argentina, are great. Based on Pablo Vierci's 2009 book.
