Society of the Snow: the tragic real-life story behind new Netflix hit

A new and highly regarded film that has just arrived on Netflix tells the incredible story of the survivors of a plane crash in the Andes mountains. 

But rather than mere fiction, "Society of the Snow" is a faithful dramatisation of a real-life disaster that occurred in 1972.

Similar stories of survival such as "Lord of the Flies", "Lost" and "Yellowjackets" have delved into "the dark side of human nature", said Time, often focusing on how the survivors eventually turn on one another. But "Society of the Snow" looks at how a Uruguayan rugby team "managed to survive 72 days in one of the world's harshest environments by doing the opposite".

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While the movie is "plenty harrowing", the magazine said, it is also "a moving account of how those who lived" somehow "banded together to overcome nearly two and a half months of starvation".

What is the true story?

The disaster that is the subject of "Society of the Snow" has become known as "The Miracle of the Andes", said The Independent, and "is one of the greatest survival stories of the last century".

On 13 October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which took off from Montevideo bound for Santiago, Chile, lost its wings when it hit a mountain ridge in the Andes and crash-landed on a glacier.

The passengers were an amateur rugby team – mostly in their late teens and early twenties – on their way to play an exhibition match in Chile, travelling with their friends, family and supporters. 

Of the 45 people aboard, 12 were killed immediately in the crash. That, though, "was only to be the start of a horrifying, two-and-half month ordeal, trapped 12,000ft above sea level without any food or water supplies", The Sun said.

At first, the survivors attempted to eat shoes and clothes in order to fill their stomachs. As the weeks passed and starvation set in, "the survivors were ultimately forced to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive", Time said.

Somehow 16 of the 45 people on board survived the harrowing ordeal.

What does the movie focus on?

It would be easy to concentrate on the grim aspects of the crash and its aftermath, but Spanish director J.A. Bayona "focuses on the humanity", said NPR.

Bayona became interested in the story of the plane crash around the time he began making "The Impossible", his 2012 Oscar-nominated film about the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that devastated territories around the Indian Ocean.

Before he began filming "Society of the Snow", producers spent more than 100 hours interviewing the 15 remaining survivors, now all over 70, as well as the loved ones of those who died.

While the story has been dramatised before – most notably in director Frank Marshall's 1993 film "Alive" starring Ethan Hawke – this is the first time the survivors and families of the dead have allowed their real names to be used.

Bayona issued an open call in Uruguay and Argentina to find his cast, yielding a crop of young, relatively unknown actors who were encouraged to improvise dialogue to add authenticity. 

The group then rehearsed together for months to build their rapport, and once filming began gradually lost weight, supervised by nutritionists and doctors. 

"The actors were brave and committed wholeheartedly to their performances, experiencing a small measure of the cold and hunger the survivors would have endured," Bayona told The Independent.

The director has also drawn praise for his "sensitive handling" of the cannibalism in the story, exploring the "complexity of the situation and the different ways the men dealt with it", the paper said.

"We preferred to evoke emotions rather than show explicit images," Bayona said.

How has it been received?

Guy Lodge of Variety called "Society of the Snow" a "brawnily effective tear-jerker". He said the film "grips with alternating waves of dread, horror and heart-swelling relief, even as it can hardly surprise".

Deadline's Pete Hammond wrote that Bayona has made a "story of how humanity comes together for each other in the worst of circumstances, how faith can see us through, and the sheer will to live involved in just simply pulling off a miracle by never giving up".

"Society of the Snow" has been shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, and longlisted for Bafta's Best Film not in the English Language. It has also already won prizes at the European Film Awards, and was nominated in numerous categories at Spain's Goya Awards.