Alive

Alive (1993) is about the 1972 plane crash in the Andes, and the best known element of that story is its hardest part. 13 October 1972. A plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team to Chile hits the mountains. Some of the forty five aboard die on impact. The rest are left at four thousand metres, in snow, with no food. The search is called off after eight days. They hear it on the radio. Nobody is coming. What follows lasts seventy two days. When the food runs out, the survivors decide to eat the bodies of the dead. The film does not treat that decision as sensation; it is debated at length, its religious dimension is discussed, and it is taken collectively. Eventually two of them set out on foot to find help and spend ten days crossing the mountains. Sixteen of the forty five survived. The film is adapted from Piers Paul Read's book and was made with the cooperation of the survivors, some of whom were on set as consultants. That is why even the crash is not overplayed, only sudden. Ethan Hawke was at the start of his career. It runs 127 minutes. Good for: survival narratives, true events, and mountain films. Less good for: cannibalism is the direct subject, the crash is harsh, and freezing and starvation are shown in detail.