The book to movie adaptation by Netflix Society of the Snow, based on real events, takes place on October 13th, 1972, when there was an intense and tragic event. A plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and their friends and family crashed into the mountains, leaving the survivors stranded in harsh conditions. They had to endure freezing temperatures, lack of food, and avalanches. Eventually, they resorted to extreme measures to survive, including cannibalism. Society of the Snow depicts the story of everyone on the flight. It shows how they endured blizzards, avalanches, starvation and worse such as the horrifying choice to eventually eat those who died waiting to be rescued.
Of the 45 passengers on board, only 16 managed to survive. Some were struggling with injuries and sickness while others were beginning to starve to death. As some passengers passed away due to their circumstances, some began to eat the bodies to survive and over time they all accepted that it was needed for survival. The main conflict was that the plane blended in with the snow, so it was very difficult for search parties to find them, causing them to end the search for some time and extend the team’s stay in the mountains.
Nando Parrado (Agustín Pardella) and Roberto Canessa (Matías Recalt) were the biggest heros. Roberto is a brave individual that was willing to sacrifice himself and take the risk to try and find help away from the plane. He was also able to perform medical care for everyone who needed it. Nando took a risk and hiked 37 miles in 10 days to look for help alongside Roberto.
24-year-old Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic) is one of the main protagonists that was a law student and was friends with members in the rugby team. He was extremely against resorting to cannibalism to survive. His role plays an important part of the story because he promised himself and others that he will not under any circumstance eat others, but still motivated them to do what they needed to do to survive and had faith they would be saved. He unfortunately didn’t survive himself.
In the end of their long and terrifying experience in the mountains, on December 20th Nando and Roberto lead authorities to the 14 other survivors after they saw another man by the name of Sergio Catalan Martinez. 72 days lost in the Andes and they were all finally safe. Overall, the movie is a rather difficult watch but is a remarkable story of survival and the strength of humans working together to survive the lowest they can get. This deserves a 5 out of 5 shields rating for the great cast which succeeds at making the movie very sentimental.