Desolation, isolation, and mortality are what audiences will face in the upcoming movie Society of the Snow. Based on a true story, it tells the story of the Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight disaster that was both a tragedy and a reminder of the power of human endurance.
Written and directed by J.A. Bayona and starring numerous unknown actors from Uruguay and Argentina, the movie has already wrought tears in the eyes of critics, and now it’s heading to Netflix to test us.
It would seem that Bayona can’t stay away from these tragic yet uplifting stories. While he was researching for the 2012 survival thriller The Impossible, he came across the novel La Sociedad de la Nieve, by Pablo Vierci, that documented the 1972 disaster. He bought the rights as soon as filming for The Impossible was over so he could bring this story to the big (and little) screen and devastate us once again.
Over a decade later, he has done just that, with his film premiering at the 80th Venice International Film Festival as the closing film of the event. The process has been a long but necessary one as Bayona, as well as the actors, worked closely with the survivors of the crash to bring authenticity to this epic retelling of those harrowing events.
The trailer for the film, which was released this week by Netflix, gives audiences a glimpse at what they might expect.
What’s Society of the Snow’s plot?
In 1972, a flight carrying five crew members and 40 passengers from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, crashed in the Andes mountain on October 13. The passengers were made up of 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team as well as their friends and families. Three crew members and nine passengers lost their lives in the immediate crash, with the survivors then left facing one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet with no food, no suitable clothing, and no way to communicate.
Society of the Snow tells their story and how they pushed to survive despite the conditions, resorting to acts they would never have imagined themselves committing, and pushing their bodies and spirits beyond what they thought possible. This is how the event came to be known as the Andes Flight Disaster and the Miracle of the Andes simultaneously.
The film has received positive reviews, with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer and numerous awards from film festivals. It has also been selected as Spain’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.
The cast of Society of the Snow
The cast has been made up of many relatively unknown actors from Argentina and Uruguay who may see themselves propelled into stardom after the film’s general release.
The cast includes, Enzo Vogrincic, Agustín Pardella, Matías Recalt, Esteban Bigliardi, Diego Vegezzi, Fernando Contigiani García, Esteban Kukuriczka, Rafael Federman, Francisco Romero, Valentino Alonso, Tomás Wolf, Agustín Della Corte, Felipe Otaño, Andy Pruss, Blas Polidori, Felipe Ramusio, and Simón Hempe.
When does Society of the Snow come out?
Having already been seen at numerous film festivals, the film will have a theatrical release in Spain on December 15. It is then set to head to Netflix and will premiere on the streaming service on January 4.
(featured image: Netflix)
