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Aron Ralston heads off an adventure in Canyonland, USA. He brings with him the standard camping essentials, because he doesn’t feel like anything will go wrong. Aron meets these two girls who he takes on an adventure of a lifetime sliding through the tiniest cracks within the canyon and plummeting into a spring below. Aron then takes off on his own and while trying to manoeuvre through tight canyons he slips pinning his arm against the side of the canyon.
Ralston is essentially trapped within his own mind for the entire film, trying desperately to hold onto life, we get a glimpse of his past, and the things that have gone right and the things that have gone wrong for him. Boyle beautifully captures Ralston going in and out between a dream state and a state of reality. Ralston through out his time trapped is frantically trying everything he can to free himself from what is certain death when he runs out of supplies. Boyle captures the frantic realism of Ralston’s dire situation.
Aron Ralston is trapped deep within the heart of America for a little over 5 days with only a bottle of water, a video camera and some snacks. What we see is a character so determined to remain alive that he limits his resources and chips ever so desperately away at trying to free himself. James Franco's performance is what makes this film come to life. His performance shapes the film as not only a story, but a 5 day journey of survival and the will to live. Franco commands his screen time in a way he has not done before in his career. He lives and breathes Aron Ralston in every scene through out this movie. He makes Ralston’s pain and suffering seem like our own, or that of a best friend. What Franco and Boyle are able to do, is take us with Aron and make us question what would we do if we were stuck in that situation.
Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn have very little screen time in this picture, but they as well bring a sense of realism to this film. Ralston met them and briefly changed their lives only to disappear and run off alone on his grand adventure. What the inclusion of these two young girls does is remind us that this was just an ordinary day in the life of Aron Ralston. Tamblyn and Mara are brought back later on in the film, for a brief moment when Ralston reviews the video he made of that day. Perhaps this is along with the brief flashbacks of Ralston’s past break up and home life are the scenes that make the audience admire Boyle’s artwork. What Boyle does for these moments of the film is he takes as away from Ralston’s predicament and brings us to what he has done and who he is as a person.
When taking us back through the life of Aron Ralston, Boyle sets us up for the final fight between Aron and nature. This brings me to the scene where Aron amputates his own arm, allowing himself to be free. There is about a 4 to 6 minute span in this film that is unnerving not because people are being blown away in a hail of gunfire of stabbed through the throat but because this man is fighting through pain and desperation that he is willing to sever his own limb to survive. Franco is so deeply focused on portraying Ralston’s will and determination, but his screams because of sheer pain are a bit too much to handle even for those people who have seen the most disturbing of horror films. This scene is much more graphic in nature than anything I have witnessed in a horror flick, and made me close my eyes numerous times. This scene defines this movie and the graphicness of the scene is just the essence of Arons struggle. I suggest that if you are faint of heart that you turn off this scene once it begins and return to the movie after it is over. You can still grab the meaning of the scene and the meaning of the entire film without watching this scene.
127 Hours is one hell of a movie, the acting is top notch, the layout of the film is wonderful and it keeps you hoping. Very well made, definitely one of the best from the past year in films.
9/10
