The Society of the Snow Review
Anasofia Girardot | April 8, 2024 | The Spring Supplemental
Four hours. That is how long the flight’s journey to Santiago, Chile is supposed to last as it crosses the Andes. With a layover in Mendoza and a bit of tumultuous weather, the 571 Fairchild plane gradually descends into the air. With a flight of raucous laughter, rugby balls tossed across the aisles, and packs of Methol cigarettes, the four-day weekend ahead promises a getaway from daily stressors. From the windows the tremendous snow-capped mountains sprawl across the landscape, with its peaks forming the sharpened teeth of the open Andes.
As the plane makes its premature descent towards Curico, the Andean winds engulf the craft and violently drags it down into the air. The Fairchild violently shakes as it collides against the turbulent blizzard outside, fighting for control with the deafening whirring of its jet engines. An environment once bubbling with giddiness is now engulfed in growing cries of panic and shaking hands that clasp at the thin seatbelts holding them to their places. In the cockpit, the pilots, wracked with poor vision and draining power, try to rescue the plane from an imminent crash by pulling it up toward the sky. It smashes into a mountain, the plane severed into two as the fuselage crashes into the snowed valley. Amidst the twisted metal, leaking blue fuel, and shattered seats, 33 passengers are blanketed under the wreckage in inhospitable temperatures. In 72 days they will be rescued.
As a movie adaptation of Uruguayan author Pablo Vierci’s novel, “The Society of the Snow'' pays homage to the impossible odyssey that 45 people embarked on in 1972. Majorly formed by a tight-knit group of young Uruguayan rugby players, their invited loved ones, and other passengers, the flight of Fuerza Area in October from Montevideo to Santiago would be average. Even with a safe layover in Mendoza and a secured environment of camaraderie among its passengers, they could not see the inevitable tragedy that would arrive from the mountains. After descending too early into the Andes mountains and crash landing in the Valley of Las Lagrimas, 29 survivors of the accident that October 13 would endure conditions that, up until that time, nobody had ever survived. For over two months the last passengers of the Fairchild plane persevered through sub-zero freezing temperatures, dehydration, starvation, and death. Even when emerging alive after rugby teammates Fernando Parrado and Roberto Cannessa traversed 44 miles for 10 days to search for rescue, the paths of their existence would be irrevocably rerouted. Ironed by the bonds they forged in that broken fuselage, the society of 16 solidified into a family, if not a group of lifelong friends.
Although various movie adaptations have attempted to cover what occurred in those mountains, none have explored it with as much care, sincerity, and beauty as “The Society of the Snow.” Featuring a fresh cast of independent Argentine and Uruguayan actors, J.A. Bayona’s film illuminates aspects of the story and integrates the direct perspectives of the survivors. Narrated by one of the passengers, the film follows the Stella-Maris Christians rugby team joining their flight and fighting for survival in the Valley of Las Lagrimas. With a soundtrack composed by Michael Giacchino and the involvement of the survivors themselves, “The Society of the Snow” captures the tragedy in striking detail and honesty. Instead of sensationalizing the grim aspects like the anthropophagy, Bayona focuses on the trials of trust, spirituality and solitude among the surviving passengers as they navigate their situation.
Displaying the infinite terrain of the Andes and the snow to emphasize how miniscule the passengers feel, the camera is a witness to their new existence among the mountains. You feel among the actual passengers as Numa Turcatti (portrayed by Uruguayan actor Enzo Vogrincic) guides you around the plane. The cold burrowing the fuselage leaks through your screen as the survivors, covered in ice and their shivering breaths, try to take cover from the elements outside. The mountain is unforgiving. It becomes its own character throughout the story, transforming from an alien world of freezing temperatures to a capricious force that draws prayers for forgiveness. With the avalanche bursting the haven that was created among the ruins of the plane 19 days into the accident, the cruelty of the mountain is once again shown. Stepping out from the snow, survivors Roy Harley and Alvaro Mangino are the first indicators of life. Even after crashing in the middle of the Andes and having to resort to antropafogy, the survivors must now live submerged under the snow without respite from the elements and their reality.
The loss of lives is what impacts the movie throughout its passage in the Andes. As Bayona grabs glimpses into their personalities and former lives in the airport, a gentle chuckle from a photo or their caring goodbyes to loved one, you feel the essence of the victims. It hurts even more when those same individuals, the ones that as the viewer you followed along throughout their journey, passes away from the tragedy’s events.
Although they did not gain any awards at the Oscars, “The Society of the Snow” is nonetheless a landmark work of cinema. By integrating the voices of the present survivors and the loved ones of the victims, the film immortalizes their memory beyond the public eye. As in the actions of all the passengers, with hands that fed, protected and persevered, “Society of the Snow” shows the beauty of our humanity. Even amidst the impossibilities their situation entailed, those 33 passengers nonetheless proved that the greatest love for your friends prevails.