Society of the Snow (La sociedad de la nieve) (2023): 145 minutes of feeling nervousness, frustration, happiness, and solemn at the end

 Society of the Snow (2023)

La sociedad de la Nieve (2023): 145 minutes of feeling nervousness, frustration, happiness, and solemn at the end

Today's post is about the movie <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023). Personally, I loved this movie so much although I am not a big fan of disaster movies (they seem to be so realistic and that scares me a lot). I was very impressed with the ending and the messages that the movie was delivering to the audience. I can confidently say that it worth145 minutes of watching. It made me think a lot - which is a kind of movie that I love!

*There is a spoiler in this post

Title: Society of the Snow

Director: J.A. Bayona

Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustin Pardella 

Genre: Real-life tragedy, Drama

Original Work: <Society of the snow> by Pablo Vierci

Language: Spanish

Rated R

Running time: 144 minutes

My Rating: 9/10

<La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023) is a movie made by Netflix which is based on a true story - Miracle in the Andes. The main themes of this movie are human's dignity, hope, and the will to live. 

Real photo taken during the disaster

Brief Summary

    Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes into the Andes Mountains on October 14, 1972. Passengers who survived on a glacier in the Andes wait for rescue with the plane's fuselage that is split into two. However, due to the cold temperature of minus 40 degrees Celsius, snowstorms, and extreme hunger, survivors die one by one. 

    They turn on the radio that they found from the wreckage of the plane, but all they hear is desperate news that the country gave up the search operation 10 days after they disappeared. So, the survivors, including Nando, Antonio, Roberto, and Numa, try to survive and make their existence known to the outside world. 

I think there are several points to focus on this movie. 

View point 1. The fact that is is a true story

    Before delving into the movie <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023), did you know that there was a movie titled <Alive> (1993) which deals with the same true story? As a person who watched both movies, I noticed a few differences between the two movies. 

Poster of the movie <Alive> (1993)

    Unlike <Alive> (1993) which emphasises dramatic elements,  <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023) is more honest and realistic. Prior to the production of the film, the director recored the survivors' interviews which were more than 100 hours longs, and they cleverly used the real photos and videos recorded by the survivors at that time. Especially in the scene of taking a photo before the take off of the plane, recording their memories of disaster with a camera and the dramatic rescue intensified the feelings of pity and jubilation. 

    But there are more than their trustworthy reproduction! I think there are 2 extra unique features of this film which are different from the first film  <Alive> (1993). 

    One is experience. The film provides an extremely realistic sense of experience of surviving at the middle of the Andes Mountain. The other is its brave attempt; the movie focuses on the motivation of changing a tragedy to a miracle rather than following the cliche of survival movies. I think this brave attempt is more emphasised through the realistic experience that the movie provides to the audience. 

View point 2. Intensifying tension that continues throughout the movie

    Bayona, the director of this movie, is well known for directing the movie <Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom> (2019) - where his talent is creating suspense and controlling tension is well shown. His own colour of movie directing and his talent are well submerged in the movie <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023) as well. 

    The crash scene that marks the beginning of the tragedy is concise but shocking. When the altitude of the plane suddenly decreases, passengers standing in the aisle fall to the ground in a weightless state. And the camera shows the plane crashing into the mountain and splitting into pieces. At that moment, the passengers turn forward in unison; their legs are bent; and their noses bleed. This series of actions leads to a series of short cuts like cogs in a strange rhythm. 

    Also, his ability to maintain tension in between the tragedy and miracle is fantastic. By letting the audience "taste the miracle" one miracle at time, he maximises the despair. The typical case would the scene in which the survivors get excited when they see a passing airplane and be disheartened as they don't get recognised by the plane. Oh, we also can't forget the scene of getting trapped in an avalanche at the moment of having a happy time while laughing and talking for the first time in a long time. I think the gap is maximised due to the extraordinary number of face close-ups. The Andean snowfield even looks like a "white swamp" that does not want to let go the survivors. 

View point 3. Unique storyline 

    Another unique feature of this film is how it deals with survivors struggling in the "white swamp" - it is very different from the storyline of typical survival stories such as the book <The Lord of the Flies>. Usually, the isolated survivors structures a small society. They work towards their survival by building a social or economic system. In this process, there are a sense of hierarchy and conflicts among the survivors where brutality, instinct, and selfishness defeat their rationality. 

    But the storyline of <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023) is different, although the situation is similar because the dilemma of which to choose between survival and human dignity is an essential material that cannot be taken out of the survival films. Survivors in the film are faces with a dilemma whether to cannibalise or protect their dignity as humans. From the moment on, the movie becomes more 'three-dimensional.' Until this moment, it was just a story against the cold and blizzard, but from now on, it becomes a story about the purpose of life. 

    However, the way to solve dilemma is unexpected. There is no extreme confrontation or conflict. In situations where they might be selfish, the characters put respect and consideration into practice. Roberto is the first to pick up a knife in consideration of those who would feel awful to cannibalise. Even Numa, who refuses to cannibalise, does not criticise the other survivors. In this way, the movie justifies the choice of protagonists and highlights their will for life in a deeper sense. And their warm-heartedness maximises all kinds of emotions we can feel. 

    At the same time, the movie shows the characters' inevitable feelings of guilt. After the survivors first chose to cannibalise and are full, they suddenly get trapped in the avalanche. This made me think that the God has punished those who gave up their human dignities. It is also significant that the first one to escape from the avalanche is Numa, who does not cannibalise. 

View point 3. Narration (last warning for a bing spoiler!)

    The movie <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023) starts and ends with the narration. The narrator honestly tells the survivors' feelings that are shaken in their deep. It also hints at a tragedy that strikes the survivors who occasionally enjoy peace. 

    It is particularly interesting that the narrator is Numa. The narrator of a movie about a true story is usually a survivor - who often writes a memoir or gives an interview. Numa, on the other hand, is one of the 29 deceased. 

This is Numa in the movie

    This made me question: Why did the director Bayona give the opportunity to speak to a deceased person, not the survivors? We can find a hint from Numa's actions. Numa was a non-mainstream survivor. He was the only person to refuse to cannibalise to maintain his human dignity to the end. In this context, it can be inferred that the use of Numa as a narrating speaker was a choice to unfold a story that is not expected.

    I think the director wanted to emphasise the role of the deceased. Usually, in survival movies, the dead are out of the spotlight. They are often only used to highlight the stories of the survivors. On the other hand, Bayona reiterates that the dead also have a role and will to survive - just as Numa donating his body and wishing for his friends to survive while he was gradually dying. This choice seems to help the audience not only remember the survivors but also the dead. In this way, the film retires to convey a sense of community that they did their best in their respective positions across the boundaries of life and death. 

    Thanks to that, the end of the movie does not follow the usual trajectory. The survivors are filled with joy when they are rescued, but when they return home, they fall into a flood of depression, thinking about their dead friends and family. In this way, the movie ends with a natural reminder of those who gave up their bodies and hearts to the survivors. Subtitles of the dead's names and ages were for the same reason. 

Overall, I think the movie <Society of the Snow> (2023) exceeds what one would expect from a survival film. I recommend you to watch it; it will make you think deeply about the choices that you would make if you were in their shoes (I had to stop the movie sometimes to think). 

My favourite quotes from this movie: 

"Now when they remember us, they ask themselves: Why didn't we all get to come back? What does it all mean? You'll need to find out ourselves. 'Cause the answer is in you. Keep taking care of each other. An tell everyone what we did on the mountain."

"But my faity - sorry, Numa - isn't in your God. Because that God tells me what I'm supposed to do at home. But He doesn't tell me what to do on the mountain. What's happening here is a completely different situation. Numa. This is my heaven. I believe in another god. I believe in the god that Roberto keeps inside his head when he comes to heal each of my wounds. In the god that Nando keeps in his legs and that lets him continue walking no matter what. I believe in Daniel's hand when he cuts the meat. And Fito, when he gives it to us without saying which of our friends it belonged to. That way, we can eat it without... without having to remember their faces. That's the god I believe in."

Any way, this is the end of my review on the movie <La sociedad de la Nieve> (2023). You can watch this on Netflix! 

If you are a spanish learner / speaker like me, I highly recommend you to watch this movie in spanish (no dubbing!!) or even without english subtitles. 

I hope today's post brought you another joy to your day :)