Survival films, fictional and non-fictional, are both easy and hard to watch. They are easy, since they don't need to worry too much about creating fleshed-out characters, complex narratives or settings that have to connect to each other. They are hard to watch however, because these survival films can gruelling to endure due to how stressful the situations can be and also evoke a heavy sense of realism, which is mainly because a lot of these films are based off real events. "Alive" chronicles the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, whose survivors were left for dead as search parties gave up only after nine days. The survivors, for more than seventy days, continued to live in the harsh Andes climate by finding ways to stay warm, rationing the little food they have, and eventually having to deal with the hard choice of eating their dead associates in the hope that they can either fix the radio or leave the mountains entirely. The story jumps straight into the incident with no set-up or background for the characters and their intended journey, which kind of helps making humanize them in a way in that they have genuine reactions and outbursts. What makes the story so well-done is that it perfectly offers the viewer both small signs of levity and hope and huge amounts of despair throughout the runtime. For a two-hour movie, you tend to feel like you spent months with the survivors on top of that mountain. The tone itself reflects the mood-swings as characters might joke or even share some cheesy moments, but the chances of survival diminishes every so slightly a day. It's the definition of an emotional rollercoaster.
I'm not going to go too in depth with the cast as, frankly, there's way too many to list and it doesn't help that a lot of them look or behave similarly to each other. The most notable star would be Ethan Hawke as Nando Parrado, the man who would bring up the ideas to both leave the mountains and eat the dead in order to survive after the death of his mother and sister. While I'm not a huge fan of Hawke as an actor, I do think his performance as Nando is one of his better ones due to the amount of drama he puts into the role. Josh Hamilton plays Roberto Canessa, a young medical student who starts to become emotionally shut off due to the increasing dead and how he feels like he can't do anything to save others. Hamilton is probably the best actor in the film in that he expresses a lot of human emotion and reaction in his position and survival. The last character to note would be John Newton as Antonio Tintin Viztini, the captain of the rugby team and self-appointed leader of the survivors who is attempting to keep people's hope alive despite various factors hindering his group. Again, Newton is doing a really good job in how he's a questionable leader in such an unforgiving situation. Aside from the main trio of actors, the huge side cast is also well-acted and give off both characterizations of their personalities and beliefs as well as showcasing emotional outbursts of excitement and anguish. The only issue with the cast is a very noticeable one. The majority of the Uruguayan survivors are played by American and Canadian actors with very few exceptions. You can say that this is to be expected for an Hollywood production, but films like "The 33" had more Hispanic actors and actresses in a South American event. Still, that's not a huge issue as all of the cast members do a fantastic job in either playing these real-life survivors or make you believe that they are in this life-threatening event.
Frank Marshall is a legendary producer who is known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and his partner, Kathleen Kennedy. However, his work as a director isn't that reflective to his lengthy credits. In short, he has only made four films in his career, with most of them being either forgettable or just straight up bad. "Alive" might just be his best film to date, but at a minor cost. Considering that Marshall has little or no distinct directing style or motifs, it kind of makes the film feel like it doesn't have a unique voice on the chair. With that said though, it doe help at making the film feel much more real because there's no trademark visual or directorial flair attached to it. The film was shot in British Colombia, but the Purcell Mountains feel just as high and outer-worldly as the Andes. The daytime sequences are bright and reflective with the snowy landscape, while the nighttime shots are dark and visually cold and empty. The wreckage of the plane doesn't feel like a prop or set, it looks very much like it's the real deal and the various actors are legitimately freezing up there. The snow around the plane gets progressively dirtier, which makes sense given the large amount of survivors and the lack of toilets around. The only prop that looks fake would be the human meat that is seen in the first scene where the group cuts up a corpse's buttocks and grabs flesh for consumption. The flesh looks too much like ham or prosciutto however, which does lower the level of how gross and sickening it is to watch. Later scenes do improve the look of the meat and even throw in some bloodied skeletons in the background. The cinematography by Peter James is extremely effective at either showing how small or distant the survivors are in their environment or have some visually beautiful shots of the survivors hiking in the hopes to reach the tail or get help. It feels a bit like a documentary film at times and it makes the mountains so alien in how isolated it is to the rest of the world. The score by James Newton Howard is far more on the somber side. Howard mainly plays into the hopeful beats or emotional bearings of the story that are meant to not overpower the onscreen performances and scenario, which really works and the film does tend to use ambient sounds far more than the music to add to the dire situation. The use of Ave Maria in the end credits also adds to Howard's score and helps end the film on a bittersweet experience. While there's not too many effects used in the film, the opening utilizes a great-looking miniature and green-screen to recreate the devastating crash. Marshall clearly knows how to direct and create an effective film from his longtime experience, he just really needs to put his efforts on well-written projects.
"Alive" is a top contender for the best survival film of the genre. Although the cast is extremely white-washed and Marshall's directing doesn't offer a distinct flair, it's all the issues the film carries. From a great story and coverage of the real-life event, a tone and narrative structure that affects the viewer's mood in the positive and negative onscreen moments, Hawke, Hamilton, and Newton do great jobs for the central survivors, the large supporting cast are also well-acted and depicted despite their ethnicities, the camerawork by James might be his best in showcasing the beauty and horrors of the mountain environment, Howard's score is somber yet effective in playing up the hopeful and devastating sequences, the opening crash sequence offers some well-done visual effects in a very physically-shot film, and Marshall perfectly captures the harsh environment of the Andes and the crash site being so real that it can pass as a snuff film. What makes the film so memorable is that it's not just pure misery and depression, but inspiration and hope that is constantly shown, stomped out, and eventually prevail by the end of it all.
Verdict: 9/10. A brilliant film that serves both as an effective recreation of the infamous event, yet serve as a beautiful reminder of hope and preservation the human body can achieve. Watch if you can stomach the drama and cannibalism.
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