“Society of the Snow (2023)
Highly recommended re-imagining of “Alive”.
Directed by J A Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible, A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) “Society of the Snow” or “La sociedad de la nieve” to give the film its original Spanish title, isn’t strictly a re-imagining of the 1993 film “Alive” (directed by Frank Marshall) or at least I haven’t seen this direct link and only make it here by way of a brief introduction as I hold the 1993 film close to my heart as it’s a remarkable telling of a true life tale (as is this film) and the early 1990’s saw the beginning of my true fandom for all things film, cinema and especially movies based upon true life.
Both films tell the same, albeit disturbing and grisly tale: In 1972 an aeroplane containing a Uruguayan rugby team en-route to Santiago in Chile crash lands in the Andes mountains and seemingly without any real tangible hope of rescue, many resort to cannibalism to stay alive. Many abstain. Many succumb to horrific injuries, and many more days are spent in this desolate wilderness than you may believe or indeed imagine possible. Faith and religion are an integral part of this true life story as is the obvious desire to survive, be rescued or simply the bonds of family and friendship that warm the freezing souls hoping against hope that God, or anyone, will hear their prayers.
Whereas the 1993 film was based upon the 1974 book “Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors”, Bayona’s film here is based on Pablo Vierci’s book “Society of the Snow” and closed the 2023 Venice Film Festival before separate country releases in Uruguay, Spain and the USA before being released generally via Netflix in January of this year. Two Oscar nominations have followed, one in the prestigious category of “Best International Film” as the film is entirely in the Spanish language.
As the immediate link below hopefully demonstrates, I’m rather a fan of the Spanish director and can heartily recommend every one of his five big screen releases to date but a word of warning, should you decide to watch “A Monster Calls”, you might need a supply of tissues and a shoulder upon which to cry!
Reviews of The Orphanage, The Impossible and A Monster Calls
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection" - Volume 1 - Available on Amazon
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection" - Volume 7 - Available on Amazon
I simply cannot recommend this film enough to you, as I did to my son who, after listening to me rambling on and on about the true life tale (and documentary I saw many years ago) together with the 1993 film, he eagerly agreed to my suggestion. “Alive” is now pencilled into our film watching diary.
We’ve now watched all five J A Bayona films together and we both adore The Orphanage, he likes The Impossible and Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom far more than I do and, well, I cried my heart out when we saw A Monster Calls at the cinema all those years ago. I’ve seen it many times since on Blu-Ray, and it still pulls me to pieces!
“Society of the Snow” is about family and I watched it with mine.
Another precious memory stored away for the future.
Just don’t forget the tissues if you watch “A Monster Calls”!
Thanks for reading. A passionate fan and writer of spoiler free film reviews, please see my 7 volumes of “Essential Film Reviews Collection” linked in the middle of this article (all free to read if you have an Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” package) or feel free to traverse my archives here where you’ll find well over 300 separate articles on 600-700 films. All spoiler free.