Movie Review: Society of the Snow

In a voiceover at the beginning of Society of the Snow, Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic) declares of the story that is to follow, “Some say it was a tragedy. Others call it a miracle.” What happened to the passengers of the chartered Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 is a powerful example of how something can be both things simultaneously.

On October 13, 1972, 45 people boarded a twin-engine Fairchild FH-227D in Montevideo, Uruguay that was bound for Santiago, Chile. Primarily comprised of the Old Christians Club rugby team along with their families and friends, they were on their way to an away match and some much-anticipated fun. While the pilot was an experienced member of the nation’s Air Force, the co-pilot was still being trained. As he was in control of the aircraft and flying through dense cloud cover over the Andes Mountains, relying completely on the instruments to navigate, he completely misread the plane’s position and took them heavily of course. When visibility returned it became clear that they were headed directly for a rocky peak. The pilot and co-pilot began to ascend at maximum power in the hopes of clearing it, but the rear of the craft clipped the ridge and set off a crash that is captured here in harrowingly accurate detail.

Amazingly, 33 passengers were still alive after the remaining portion of the plane slammed to a stop in the snow and ice, though several had received life-threatening injuries. An air search was launched shortly after the flight had stopped communicating, but the white aircraft proved impossible to see against the snowy landscape and by October 21 the rescue operation had been called off. As it became clear to the survivors that they were not going to be found and what little food they had was running out, they began to debate what they were willing to do to survive.

Director J.A. Bayona’s horror movie roots come through in the almost casual way he builds tension in the opening scenes in which we follow some of the passengers in the days leading up to the inevitable crash, an event which looms over these seemingly mundane moments like a killer lurking in the shadows. It also makes him a perfect choice to capture the chaotic and visceral crash itself, which may be one of the scariest sequences ever captured on film. After that though, rather than sensationalize and exploit the grisly decisions the survivors were forced to make, his script (written with Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques, and Nicolás Casariego, and based on Pablo Vierci’s book) takes a more humane approach to the story than previous adaptations.

This focus on the characters and their inner and outer turmoil dramatically increases the emotional tension of the story and makes the inevitable deaths of several characters sting that much more, as does the decision to display the names and ages of the victims on the screen at the moments when their deaths occur. I caught myself fighting back tears repeatedly, even over those who had barely appeared in the movie. Every actor involved imbues their characters with so much pathos that it’s impossible not to root for them all to survive and helps us to understand the torment they go through while being faced with some truly impossible choices. Tragedies and miracles abound in this riveting story of human survival. Handled with a surprising and welcome amount of care, Society of the Snow is a movie that viewers will not soon forget. ★★★★★