Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Ethan Hawke | ... | Nando Parrado | |
Vincent Spano | ... | Antonio Balbi | |
Josh Hamilton | ... | Roberto Canessa | |
Bruce Ramsay | ... | Carlitos Páez | |
John Newton | ... | Antonio 'Tintín' Vizintín (as John Haymes Newton) | |
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David Kriegel | ... | Gustavo Zerbino |
Kevin Breznahan | ... | Roy Harley | |
Sam Behrens | ... | Javier Methol | |
Illeana Douglas | ... | Lilliana Methol | |
Jack Noseworthy | ... | Bobby François | |
Christian J. Meoli | ... | Federico Aranda | |
Jake Carpenter | ... | Alberto Artuna | |
Michael DeLorenzo | ... | Rafael Cano (as Michael De Lorenzo) | |
José Zúñiga | ... | Fraga, the Mechanic | |
Danny Nucci | ... | Hugo Díaz |
In 1972, the Uruguayan rugby team is flying to Chile to play a game. However, the plane from the Uruguayan Air Force with 45 people crashes on the Andes Mountains and after the search party, they are considered dead. Two months after the crash, the sixteen survivors are finally rescued. Along the days, the starved survivors decide to eat flesh from the bodies of their comrades to survive. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
"Alive" is the kind of movie that you wouldn't believe if you didn't know in advance that it was based on true events. If you didn't know better, you would say it was all made up by some scenarist with too much of inspiration, looking for a spectacular and sometimes shocking script. But unfortunately enough it all really happened, which makes the movie interesting to watch.
For those who don't know the story yet, it is based on what happened to the Uruguayan rugby team during and after their plane crash in the middle of the Andes mountains in 1972. Some of them survive the initial crash, some wounded, others only with some minor scratches. They pray that they will soon be found, but no search team is coming to rescue them. At first they keep themselves alive by eating what they find in the luggage of the passengers, but soon that food is also gone. If they don't eat, they will all die. And they need to gain strength, because they need to try to get help themselves. There is only one horrible solution: they will have to eat the dead people...
Despite the fact that this may sound horrible to many, I must say that it isn't as bad as you may think. Of course you'll see them cut a piece out of the bodies and eat it, but it is done in a watchable way. I'm sure that only the very faint of heart will not be able to watch it. It's a part of the story, but it is never shown in a too spectacular or sensational way.
All in all this is a very interesting movie. I asked myself several times: 'What would you do if you were in that situation? Would you eat it or not?' I'm not sure, but I guess I would, but that's not why I tell you this. Just the fact that I was able to think about it in this way shows that it wasn't too bloody or with too much gore (I really don't like that). That's why I reward this movie with a 7.5/10.