Spanish director J.A.Bayona’s latest film, Society of the Snow, has been nominated for best non-English language film at the Golden Globes as well as Spain´s Oscar entry for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film for the 96th Academy Awards next year.
Based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, first published in 2008, Society of the Snow tells the story of the Andes plane crash in 1972.
The crash on 13 October 1972, occurred when Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 from Montevideo to Chile crashed into a mountain in the Andes. There were five crew members on board and 40 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team.
The crash was caused because the pilot began his descent too early, crashing into THE mountain and killing 12 immediately. The survivors clung to the belief that help was coming, but none did. After weeks of hunger, having exhausted everything in the plane’s hold, they were forced to do the unthinkable and eat the flesh of those who had died.
The story was also brought to film by Frank Marshall in the acclaimed 1993 film, Alive.
Juan Antonio García Bayona is one of Spain´s leading international film directors, responsible for such award winning films as the The Orphanage, and the 2012 drama film The Impossible.
Bayona’s Society of the Snow was released yesterday 15 December and will be available on Netflix from 4 January.
The Golden Globes will be held on 7 January 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Filming took place in Sierra Nevada, Spain; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Chile and Argentina in the Andes, including the actual crash site.
The production had 138 shooting days including exhaustive interviews with the survivors. Its budget was reported to be more than €65 million.
On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 28 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. One review said: ” It will generate emotional reactions in the viewer, without being afraid to show everything it has to show. “Society of the Snow” is one of the best things Bayona has done; an intense, emotional and powerful survival film”.
Guy Lodge of Variety Magazine deemed the film to be a “brawnily effective tear-jerker”, “which grips with alternating waves of dread, horror and heart-swelling relief, even as it can hardly surprise”.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPANISH NEWS