Society of the Snow (2023)
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Society of the Snow Movie Review
Society of the Snow is a 2023 survival thriller film directed by J. A. Bayona. It is one of the best movies of the year.
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“There is no greater love than that
which gives one’s life for one’s friends“
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The flight of a rugby team crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments to survive. This movie was based on a tragic, but inspirational true story of the 1972 plane crash that led to only 16 survivors out of 40 passengers. It’s an incredible story that was ripe for the cinematic treatment, especially in the hands of J. A. Bayona of ‘The Impossible’ fame. This filmmaker knows how to make an emotionally impactful disaster movie that is miles above anything else done in that genre.
Society of the Snow is one of the best disaster/survival movies of all time for a couple of reasons, the biggest being its incredible recreation of real life events and its staggering emotional resonance. The film was a true tour de force in terms of directing, acting and cinematography. There is the plane crash scene that was truly terrifying due to how painfully realistic it was in its details. The sound design in that scene was particularly outstanding.
The cinematography is phenomenal and so is the score by the great Michael Giacchino. Another striking audio-visual sequence was the double avalanche that caused additional tragic deaths. All of these scenes were both thrilling and heartbreaking while being immersive from a technical standpoint. The final trek down the mountain was also thrilling and the ending was so powerful and earned in its big emotions.
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It was earned because we got to know the characters beforehand, so that we could care and root for them. Yes, there is an issue in this movie of an overly large cast of characters and the film’s approach of depicting as many of their struggles as possible, which negatively impacted the overall characterization. However, the movie focuses on a group of men surviving in the harshest of environments, so the individual approach would not work in this instance.
Camaraderie is the main theme of the story. It was truly inspirational witnessing these very young men’s love for each other and to what lengths they would go to care for one another. It is one of the ultimate male friendship movies because of that. Another even more important theme was one of human spirit and perseverance. This is one of the most inspiring and optimistic depictions of human life that I have ever seen, so it needs even more respect for that. So often film criticism focuses on the technical and artistic side of movies while totally disregarding the emotion and messaging behind the story, which is the main reason why this film isn’t as beloved as it should be.
There are two scenes that best exemplify the movie’s impressively positive tone. One sees the last victim of the accident proclaim his joy that his friends will survive (his narration was also deeply moving) while the other concerns a man’s descriptions of his wife’s dying in front of his eyes and how that affected him. The latter scene shows that human willpower and endless hope and just how crucial finding your purpose in life is. Everybody has a purpose, the movie states, and it is up to all of us to find that purpose and live our lives the best that we could in spite of all the hardships stacked against us.
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The movie’s treatment of cannibalism is deeply moving while the emphasis on the Latin Americans’ deep faith was also fascinating to see. The meticulous attention to detail in recreating every single major thing that happened in this real life event was admirable and so was the movie’s extreme historical accuracy. That last scene that depicted the importance and power of photography was also deeply moving.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that genuinely inspired me. Society of the Snow is one such film. This Spanish survival thriller has a terrific cast of Uruguayan and Argentine newcomers, every one of them being quite believable in their roles. The movie works so well not just because it’s an audio-visual marvel – the sound design is particularly superb while the cinematography, directing, score and extreme attention to detail are all worthy of praise too – but it is especially admirable for its immensely inspiring and optimistic outlook on human life. There are scenes in this movie that almost made me cry. It’s rare and wonderful to see such an uplifting and human story during what is our most cynical and nihilistic period in history. Society of the Snow is, thus, one of the best movies of the year and required viewing for all cinephiles.
My Rating – 4.5
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