By Pablo Briens Montero, Year 12
Society of the Snow also known as La Sociedad de la Nieve is a Spanish-language movie based on Pablo Vierci’s 2009 book under the same name. Directed by J.A Bayona, this movie has swept up the cinematographic industry as one of the most successful films of the year and has been credited with such success, especially in the upcoming Oscars considering it has two nominations, one being for the best international feature film, a renowned award in the film industry. It has also been hugely successful in the Goya Awards in Spain where the movie was able to win an impressive 13 awards, including Best Film. However, many people have been wondering, what makes this movie special and deserving of so many awards?
To add some context, Society of the Snow tells the true story of the Uruguayan rugby team’s plane crash aboard Flight 571 into the Andes on October 13, 1972. Left completely to themselves in the middle of those snowy mountains, the survivors have to deal with survival and facing death. In the movie, we observe a plethora of natural events such as avalanches and snow storms that they had to endure. It is also important to highlight that as a means to survive they face the harsh decision on what to do with the bodies of the already deceased passengers. The group has polarising opinions on whether or not to eat them and this brings up some ethical concerns on whether it is right for them to eat the bodies of the dead for their survival or, in the eyes of God, they will be punished because their decision was wrong.
This movie also portrays hope and defeat in the case of the survival stories as we see the testimonies of the characters on their thoughts and feelings. One scene that portrays those feelings of desperation is when the radio announces that the search to find them was over, meaning they would be left to die. It is truly a success from the director to be able to encourage the portrayal of such strong feelings amongst the actors.
Furthermore, it is very interesting to understand the process of making such a film. In addition to the movie, a documentary about the means of production for this movie was released after the movie’s premiere. This movie had a budget of 60 million Euros, leaving the director with a substantial budget to make the movie as realistic as possible. Filming locations varied, from studios to the actual crash site, as the movie production required much mobility.
Furthermore, the actors were handpicked to resemble and act as closely to the true survivors. To add effect, most of the actors were unknown to the greater public, which truly associated the characters with the real people.
The movie also dealt with trying to respect the survivors, their families, and the victims. To make sure of that, a few survivors worked in collaboration with the movie to get their stories across. To a certain extent, while the movie has been “fictionalised”, it can be said that it still was a testimonial to the hardship that they had to endure.
To conclude, this movie truly is one of the greatest triumphs of this year. While it touches upon a survival story, it also brings to light multiple important themes such as hope, desperation, and the morality of surviving. This movie will surely triumph even more with the following award ceremonies, and hopefully will follow its successful trend and win at the Oscars in the next few days.
