Juan Antonio García Bayona’s “Society of the Snow” is becoming a global phenomenon due its historical accuracy.
The film is based on a 1972 tragedy, in which a military plane from Uruguay crashed into the Andes mountain range on its way to Chile. There were a total of 45 people on board, of whom only 16 survived for 72 days in dire conditions.
Survivors had to endure nights at -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) covered in 3 meters (9 feet) of snow.
The absence of food and water, and the total exposure to nature and other challenges of surviving in the mountains led survivors to take drastic measures including cannibalism.
Despite being a catastrophe with a low survival rate, this journey was later referred to as “The Miracle of the Andes.”
Bayona decided to depict the event in the greatest detail possible, presenting a million-dollar proposal to several entertainment companies until Netflix finally decided to finance the project.
After 12 years of planning, rejected proposals, and various castings, production began in 2019. The movie released in Dec. 2023.
The film focuses on telling the story of the deceased, with Numa Turcatti , played by Enzo Vogrincic, as the main character.
This new perspective attracted the audience, as previously only the survivors’ version was known in the film “Alive.”
Additionally, audiences praised the setting’s realism, the resemblance of the characters to the survivors, the makeup’s detail, and the sporadic appearances of some of the real survivors.
The movie was nominated for two Oscars: best foreign language film and best makeup and hairstyling.
Without a doubt, “The Snow Society” is the version that most accurately recounts the events of that accident. The survivors themselves confirmed that the film is so real that what they saw on the screen brought them back to the cold, the smells and the bad memories they thought they had already overcome.
Finally, I would like to emphasize the extraordinary work of the actors who brought those 45 people back to life. For these young actors, “The Snow Society” was considered a debut on the big screen, but they handled each scene as if they had been acting professionally for years.
The actors faced sequential recording, which is uncommon in the film world, to show physical deterioration.
The shooting days were extensive, and the set’s cold was very similar to that of the Andes mountain range. Actors were subjected to extreme diets to lose more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) as the recording progressed.
All this sacrifice and more made the audience adore not only their characters but also them as individuals.
I cannot miss this opportunity to once again recommend watching this feature film, as the makeup, hairstyle, sequence, reality and references to the original story make it a movie and a story that everyone should know about.
