Survival and Controversy: The Andes Plane Crash of 1972

Some called it a disaster, others a miracle. In October 1972, a plane crashed in the Andes Mountains at an altitude of four kilometers, carrying a Uruguayan rugby team on its way to Chile for an important match. 29 of the 45 passengers survive the crash, but because searches for them initially yield nothing, they are left to their fate. And so they have to survive in the harsh conditions on the snowy mountain top.

Miraculously, sixteen of them lasted no less than 72 days. By coming up with inventive survival strategies that protect against the freezing cold, but also by eating the flesh of those who died in the crash. An issue that leads to long dialogues in the film about its moral correctness. Can you just eat the dead body of a loved one or friend when you know you will die if you don’t?

About ten books have been written about the well-known disaster and several documentaries and feature films have been made, such as: Alive from 1993, with actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Hamilton. Nevertheless, the Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona (director of disaster film The Impossible) to film the event again. After reading the book that journalist Pablo Vierci wrote about it, he got the idea not to make a factual retelling, as in previous film adaptations, but to focus more on the philosophical and human sides of the story. Vierci went to school with some of the survivors and interviewed them for his book, which was not released until 2009, and is the basis of the script.

2024-01-04 09:52:10


#Society #Snow #impressive #film #famous #air #disaster