Society of the Snow: the horrific true story of the Andes disaster that shocked the world
The Andes disaster, or miracle depending on how full your glass is, needs little introduction. The 1972 calamity – in which a plane carrying 45 people, including an amateur rugby team from Uruguay, crashed in the South American wilderness – has been the subject of books, documentaries and multiple films, the most famous of which, Alive, starred Ethan Hawke in 1993. Now, it is getting the movie treatment once more courtesy of Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona, whose film Society of the Snow premieres on Netflix today.
The movie, which is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes this weekend and is also Spain’s official Oscar entry, is an adaptation of Pablo Vierci’s book of the same name. Originally published in 2009, Society of the Snow pulls together accounts of all 16 survivors of the crash – many of whom Vierci knew as children growing up in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Admittedly, the story is one of cinematic proportions: shocking, terrifying, awe-inspiring. The flight was chartered to take the Old Christian Club amateur rugby team from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile for a match. Also on board the plane were family, friends, and one stranger who had purchased a ticket at the last minute so she could attend her daughter’s wedding. Due. The wreckage was not found for more than two months, leaving its survivors to tell their story of sacrifice, friendship, faith, and most salaciously, cannibalism.
