Oscars 2024: Society of the Snow is a Survival Drama Focused on Empathy

Director: J.A. Bayona

Writers: Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego; based on the book by Pablo Vierci

Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Agustín Pardella, Matías Recalt and more

Run-time: 144 minutes

Streaming on: Netflix

“Is it true these mountains try to suck up anyone who passes over them?” wonders one of the young men aboard Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, the plane that would crash into the unforgiving Andes moments later. Based on the real-life disaster that took place on October 13, 1972, J. A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow (2023) tells the unbelievable story of the people who fought to survive two months in the hostile, glacial wilderness where the odds and elements were stacked against them. There were 40 passengers and five crew members on the plane that fateful day, out of which only 16 would come out on the other side. The film gives fresh meaning to that clichéd phrase, “the indomitable human spirit”, with its spectacular, sometimes hard to watch, but ultimately respectful telling of a true story. 

We are whisked back in time to the capital city of Montevideo in October 1972, where we meet the members of the Old Christians, the Uruguayan rugby team preparing for a trip to Santiago, Chile. A deep sense of dread grips you as you watch the boys excitedly discuss their travel plans, as a mother says goodbye to her children at the airport, as the passengers take a smiling group photo before boarding. The dread intensifies when the plane encounters a spot of turbulence, and then there’s the inevitable crash. A deafening silence lingers right before the plane snaps in half. Some seats go flying into the sky, others collapse into each other, crushing the passengers; there are panicked screams, the sound of bones breaking. Darkness. It’s a scene that uses techniques commonly seen in horror films, but what makes this all the more terrifying is that it actually happened. 

Surviving on Empathy

And then there are the mountains. Cinematographer Pedro Luque captures the breathtaking, formidable beauty of the Andes with long shots and varied perspectives that highlight just how intimidating the landscape is. Often, the camera zooms so far out that the people look like mere specks dotted against a pristine, endless white space. There is a moment when the camera faces up to the starry night sky, and the feeling of being small and lost and helpless is compounded tenfold. At one point, even as two passengers struggle to scale the unrelenting peaks, they cannot help but appreciate the view. Here, with mountains and snow as far as the eye can see, hope is a scarce commodity; the score hits ominous, discordant notes to emphasise this. And yet, the passengers rally together to organise their resources and care for the injured, some of them holding strong to their belief in god while others place their faith on their brave companions.

As far as survival dramas go, many of the narrative beats in Society of the Snow are familiar, with red herrings of hope and failed attempts at being rescued. When a stray radio that happened to survive the crash informs the passengers that the search for survivors has been called off, their devastation is a chilling, palpable thing. The survivors have to reluctantly resort to feeding on their dead. However, Bayona’s film stands out not only because it is technically sublime, but also because it shows remarkable empathy towards its subjects. The passengers’ profound discomfort at the prospect of cannibalism is explored with nuance, as they weigh the rights of the dead against their need to survive to ensure their friends didn’t die in vain. 

Spoiler Alert

Over the course of the film, more and more passengers begin to succumb to the elements and injury, but you are never desensitised to the death. The film honours each of the fallen by displaying their full name and age on screen when they breathe their last. There is an endearing moment at the end of the film when the survivors awkwardly attempt to groom themselves with what little resources they have so they can look presentable when the rescuers arrive. And when the music swells and the helicopters are finally in sight, you’d be hard pressed not to cheer along with them. We also see that the survivors have carefully preserved mementoes of their dead companions.

From beginning to end, Society of the Snow is narrated by the gentle Numa (Enzo Vogrincic), who was not a part of the rugby team but persuaded by his friends to join the trip at the last minute. Where the other passengers constitute the brain and the brawn of the crew, Numa is the heart. He becomes a beacon of hope and strength for the other passengers, often looking out for them at the cost of his own well-being. If no one else, you are convinced that this is the one character who must have survived to the end. And so it comes as a huge shock when Numa dies of infection with 40 minutes of the film still left. It turns out that Numa is the last person in the group to die. His death provides the impetus for his companions to embark on a perilous expedition to Chile, where they finally get help. Since he was not among the final survivors, Numa barely featured in the 1993 film Alive, which was also based on the 1972 plane crash. Society of the Snow, on the other hand, makes a point of paying tribute to Numa’s sacrifice. He dies clutching a piece of paper in his hand that reads: “There is no greater love than to give one’s life for friends.”

Despite a triumphant homecoming, the survivors don’t feel like they’re heroes; “because they were dead like us, and only they got to come back home,” narrates Numa. Their faces are hard and blackened by prolonged exposure to the punishing cold (the film has also been nominated for the Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar), their bodies are skeletal and covered in grime, and they shiver even when it’s no longer cold. But they are alive, overwhelmingly so, and determined to keep the stories of their companions alive. “Keep taking care of each other,” says Numa in his parting narration. “And tell everyone what we did on the mountain.” In honouring every single individual who was on that flight, that’s exactly what Society of the Snow does.