Alive

Released: 1993
Biography, Drama
Director: Frank Marshall
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated: R

The breakdown: This is the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team that has some terrible choices to make as they try to survive after their plane crashes in the snowy Andes mountains.

Ok, so the truth:  a group of men, mostly teammates of a Uruguayan rugby team, are forced to do some terrible things to survive after their plane crashes in the Andes mountains.  They survived for a little over 2 months during bitter cold, no supplies, no communications, avalanches, and no food.  They did this through pure will, strength, a strong belief in God, innovation, and cannibalism.  Yes, you read that right, they had to make the unbelievably hard choice of eating their family and friends that had perished in the crash.
It's an amazing story of survival that fascinates me.

I watched a documentary of their plight just a week after I had seen this movie so I can easily see the differences between reality and the dramatization made for the film.  Mostly, I think the movie took some liberties to change what a few characters acted like during the ordeal, and actually tried to make it a bit lighter of a mood then what the real life situation was like.

If I see a movie like this, I want it to be as realistic as possible.  If you'd like to learn what the real story is like I recommend reading the books that the survivors have written, or watch the documentary that I did, also called "I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash".

The story itself is a 5 out of 5, but for the film making changes I don't think it should've touched, I can only give it a
3 out of 5 for not staying totally true to the actual events.

Still, you should either read this story from a survivor or watch the documentary, because the actual events are so incredible to learn about and wonder what you'd do in their place.