Alive Reviews

The movie tells the story about the fierce struggle for existence under extremely harsh condition. They run out of food and fire but yet never run out of their hope and desire to live.

The film opens with a series of photographs of the Stella Maris College's Old Christians Rugby Team. An elder Carlitos Páez (John Malkovich) explains that the pictures were taken by his father and points out several members of the team, including himself as a young man (Bruce Ramsay), Álex Morales, Felipe Restano, Nando Parrado (Ethan Hawke) and Antonio Balbi (Vincent Spano). Carlitos then reflects on the accident in a brief monologue, speaking of heroism, the gravity of the situation, and of solitude and faith.

The story moves to the past as Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 flies over the Andes in 1972. The raucous rugby players and a few of their relatives and friends are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming match in Chile. Nando's sister, Susana, praises the beauty of the mountains and happily observes that the plane will be landing in 20 minutes.

However, after emerging from clouds, the plane encounters turbulence and collides with an unknown mountain peak. During the collision, the wing and tail are separated from the fuselage of the plane, six of the passengers are ejected from the wreckage, and the remnants of the fuselage slide down a mountain slope before coming to a complete stop. The impact of the final crash kills the copilot, pilot and Álex. Nando falls into a coma after being hit in the head by a flying suitcase. Antonio, the team captain, takes charge of the situation, coordinating efforts to help his injured teammates. Roberto Canessa (Josh Hamilton) and Gustavo Zerbino, both medical students, are the first to address the injured. 12 passengers die in the crash, including an older couple and Nando's mother, Eugenia.

As the sun sets, the survivors begin to make preparations for the night. Canessa figures out that the seat covers can be unzipped and used as blankets. The survivors go inside the fuselage and curl up beside one another to stay warm. Antonio, Roy and Rafael Cano plug the gaping hole at the end of the fuselage with luggage to keep the wind out. Mrs. Alfonsín dies during the night, and Carlitos feels responsible after earlier insulting her as she moaned about the pain she had been experiencing. With nothing to hunt or gather on the mountain, Antonio declares they will use rationing when the survivors find a tin of chocolates and a case of wine. After seeing a plane dip its wing and assuming they had been seen, some of the survivors freely share the remaining rations, expecting to be rescued the next day.

The survivors listen to a radio for word of their rescue but are devastated when the search is called off after day nine. Meanwhile, Nando regains consciousness through the care of Carlitos and Hugo. After learning of his mother's death, Nando watches over his sister vigilantly. Knowing that she will die of her injuries within a few days, he vows to set off on foot and find a way out of the mountains.

When Carlitos reminds him that he will need food, Nando suggests consuming flesh from the corpses of the deceased pilots to survive his journey to find help. After great debate, the remaining passengers decide to eat the flesh of their dead companions in order to survive. Zerbino, Rafael and Juan Martino set off to search for the tail of the plane in hopes of finding the batteries for the airplane's radio to transmit their location. Among pieces of the wreckage, the teammates find additional corpses, but return to the group with news that the tail of the plane is likely a little farther away. A second team, made up of Nando, Canessa and Antonio "Tintin" Vizintin, finds the tail of the plane. Unable to bring the batteries to the fuselage, they return to the fuselage to get Roy. Then they bring him to the tail of the plane, where the batteries are, to see if he can fix the radio. When Roy is unsuccessful, the team returns to the fuselage once more.

Later in the week, an avalanche hits the plane and floods the interior with snow. Some manage to climb out of the snow, but most are unable to escape; eight of the remaining survivors are smothered by the snow or freeze to death, including Antonio, Liliana and Juan. Federico and Alberto die from their injuries soon after and Rafael soon dies after an illness, leading Nando to convince a reluctant Canessa to search for a way out of the mountains, taking Tintin with them. Two days into the journey, they send Tintin back to the fuselage so they can appropriate his rations and continue on. After a 12-day trek, the two escape the mountains and alert the authorities of their companions' location. As helicopters land on the glacier, the other 14 survivors celebrate.

The film then shifts to the present as Carlitos explains the survivors later returned to the site of the crash and buried the bodies of the dead under a pile of stones, marked with a cross, about half a mile away. The memorial is then displayed with the film's dedication to both the 29 deceased and 16 survivors.

The true story behind this movie is really famous and actually rather fascinating. I remember, when I was a kid, I heard about this tale and I always wanted to check this movie, even though it really sounded gruesome. Eventually, even though I’m usually not a big fan of such movies based on a real life event, I have to admit that this one was pretty good. First of all, the intro was just very well done, it was really spectacular and also quite horrifying. That was the best way to start this story and it put me right away in the right mood. Honestly, the actors were not great but maybe it is better for such a story than to have famous faces getting all the attention with their acting skills. Furthermore, they could have gone even further into the psychological turmoil that those guys must have been going through. Still, I think they really managed to handle this very difficult subject with a lot of tact(in fact, I think it is the only film I have seen dealing with cannibalism except for the usual horror flicks). Anyway, even though it wasn’t really a masterpiece, it is still a very interesting movie and it is definitely worth a look.

This real life story is highlighted by man's willingness to survive through cannibalism in the harsh climits of the uninhabited Andes mountains. It is a remarkable look into the spirit of human endurance under extreme circumstances.