Hey there film fans, it’s me, Slick Dungeon! I’m here to review yet another Oscar nominated film. This one is Society of the Snow which is nominated for two Oscars, one for Best International Feature Film and one for Best Hair and Makeup. Fair warning here, this film was based on a real life disaster and how people survived a harrowing plane crash and being stranded on the Andes mountains for weeks in the middle of winter. In other words, all the trigger warnings because this film gets into dark, dark territory. Also, obviously, spoilers for the film follow below.

What’s it About?

In 1972 an airplane flying from Uruguay to Chile heading over the Andes mountains crashed. The flight held 45 passengers and was chartered to transport a Uruguayan rugby team to Chile. Upon impact several of the 45 people lost their lives. The plane broke apart into sections in the crash. After the initial crash there are several survivors, including the pilot but the pilot is on the brink of death. Some of the passengers try to find out where they are from the pilot but the information he gives is not clear enough to be of much use.

The injured are cared for as much as possible but some are clearly going to die. The passengers believe a rescue is inevitable and they simply need to wait a day or two until they will be found. In fact, they have good reason to believe this as they do see planes flying overhead. But days pass and no rescue comes.

At one point the passengers are able to find a radio and can receive real time news updates on it but they can’t communicate back out to the world. They hear that the search has been called off due to the extremely bad weather conditions. The passengers ration what little food they have found in suitcases and on the remains of the part of the plane they were in and try to survive.

An effort is made to try and find the tail section of the plane which the group believes is behind them because it split off on impact. But, the nights are barely survivable for even the most fit of them who are losing strength fast. They have to give up the search for the rest of the plane because it is simply impossible to climb the mountain with the gear they have.

As more people die, succumbing to injuries or the cold, the situation becomes even more desperate. There is no food, although the snow does provide water. The group is not at all equipped to make another effort to climb, no rescue is imminent, and there are no other resources to be found where they are on the mountain. The group had to decide how they will survive. The only possible source of food is found in the deceased passengers preserved in the snow. Extreme measures have to be taken and the protein that the consumption of their fellow passengers helps some of them to survive.

At the point that around 27 of the passengers are somewhat safe inside the remains of the airplane, another disaster hits. An avalanche buries them in snow. Several people do survive this impact and work to unbury their friends. Almost as soon as they do, another wave of snow impacts them and buries them a second time. Miraculously several people do survive this as well.

The group has to decide what to do and it is eventually decided that three of them will hike down the mountain, rather than up and hopefully find a source of food or make their way to another living human being. Three of them set out but one has to turn back because of an injured leg that is quickly becoming infected. Yet the expedition is a success. The two remaining hikers actually find the tail section of the plane which landing in front of the nose of the plane far down the mountain. There is a small amount of food there and even more importantly, a battery for a radio they can connect.

More days and weeks pass but they are not able to get the radio working and they decide once again to go down the mountain after the person with the injured leg succumbs to the infection. They take some supplies with them but only enough food to last for about a week. They estimate the hike into Chile would take around three weeks. The pair are confronted with the choice of either risking their own lives and continuing or turning back and waiting at the plane in the hopes rescue will resume. They decide to push on and incredibly, they do find someone.

The group gets help and the rescue efforts resume. In all, 16 out of the 45 people on board survive and are rescued by helicopter.

Throughout the film the survivors wrestle with questions of what is right and wrong, what they can do to survive, the meaning of all of this, and generally get quite philosophical.

If you are reading this and are a film lover like myself you might think this story sounds familiar, not just because it was a true story but because there was another film made about it. That is true. In 1993 a movie starring Ethan Hawke was released called Alive which recounted the same story. However, that version was a bit more fictionalized and starred Hollywood actors. Society of the Snow uses mostly newcomers to acting from Argentine and Uruguay.

Society of the Snow also treats the subject matter with greater care and respect than Alive did. For a film filled with newcomers, they sure seem like experienced actors because every moment of the film is believable.

The Awards

First off, this movie is nominated for Best International Feature Length Film. I would say this has a strong chance of winning but it has to compete with a film nominated also for Best Picture in The Zone of Interest. Still, the story is absolutely engrossing and nail biting from the moment the plane crashes until the end. It’s an extremely well made film about an impossibly difficult subject which handles the material deftly. Even if this never wins an Oscar it is well worth watching, although it is not for the feint of heart.

The other category this film might win in is Makeup and Hairstyling. Often, when we think of Makeup and Hairstyling we think about either makeup made to enhance the good looks of actors or we think about makeup used to create some horror creature that haunts our imagination. I think it’s great that Society of the Snow is up for this category because the hair looks like it came directly from a photograph from 1972 and the makeup is used to convey the more and more desperate situation the survivors find themselves in. While we know the actors portraying the characters are not starving, emaciated and sunburnt to extreme levels (at least we hope not) they sure look like they are. This is because the makeup is used in the right way here. It’s used to enhance the storytelling. But in this category, I think Society of the Snow will ultimately lose out to Poor Things or perhaps Oppenheimer.

In Conclusion

Society of the Snow may or may not win an Oscar but if you watch the film, it is going to stay with you. This is incredibly good filmmaking, acting, directing, cinematography and even makeup and hair. But, truly if you are disturbed by tragic situations and difficult events I don’t recommend you watch it. Also, if you have any fear of flying, stay as far away from this film as you possibly can because this film will make that fear much worse.

If you don’t fall into those categories and you haven’t seen this film, you should definitely watch it. It’s absolutely strong enough to be in the Best International Feature Film category and may have only missed out on the Best Picture nominations because it seems like a remake of 1993’s Alive (although it is not) and because 2023 was an exceptionally strong year for movies in general.

Snowily yours,

Slick Dungeon