Home Cinema The 32-year-old Ethan Hawke survival drama is one of the most underestimated films in the 1990s

The 32-year-old Ethan Hawke survival drama is one of the most underestimated films in the 1990s

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The 32-year-old Ethan Hawke survival drama is one of the most underestimated films in the 1990s


In a decade that saw some of the most unforgettable biopics of all time, Frank Marshall’s film Alive is often found to slide through the cracks in recognition. While his competitors love Schindler list And Brave heart prelated with praise and glory at the box office, Alive Quietly gone its place as one of the most realistic and most devastating representations of cinema survival.

However, despite its silent presence, there remains an underestimated masterpiece, often overshadowed by its greatest biographical peers. Unlike biopics from the same time, Alive is an exploration of slow combustion survival, focused more on written reality than on heroic dramatic. But what he can lack of greatness, he compensates more than in his intimate representation of one of the most extraordinary survival stories in modern history.

Alive tells the story of one of the bravest rugby teams in history

Based on the incredible true story, Alive Follows a team of Uruguayan rugby flying for Santiago, Chile, for a match. But when their plane reaches severe turbulence and crashes in the Andes, six passengers are killed on the impact, and the remaining survivors remained blocked and injured in one of the most ruthless places on the earth.

The area where the plane crashed is now called “the valley of tears”.

Without food or warmth and little hope, survivors try to stay alive in a place where nothing lives. With their captain, Antonio (Vincent Balbi), organizing rescue attempts and two medical students, Roberto (Josh Hamilton) and Gustavo (David Kriegel), treating the injured, the team builds a makeshift shelter and a ration of the little. But as injuries aggravate and research is canceled, survival becomes difficult decisions and unthinkable acts.

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Ethan Hawke leads a haunting story of survival

Ethan Hawke in Alive
Image via paramount

Alive is a story that respects a true story. On October 13, 1972, an chartered theft carrying the former Christian rugby team of Uruguay crashed in the mountain Andess. Twelve people were killed instantly and 33 other people were injured, freezing and alone at 12,000 feet. What followed over the next 72 days would become one of the most amazing survival stories in modern history. Of the 45 people aboard the flight, only 16 survived the 72 days of freezing temperatures. Research lasted eight days, although two days were lost due to difficult weather conditions. But, with little food available in the wreckage, the survivors were forced to use eating the frozen bodies of their deceased friends.

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Alive do not try a feeling of what happened but respects it. While some details are condensed or modified for more clarity, the global representation is faithful to the truth. Hard colds, impossible choices and growing despair are all there. The survivor Nando Parrado, played by Ethan Hawke in the film, worked in close collaboration with production as a technical advisor, helping to bring authenticity to each scene. In this spirit, the film was shot in freezing conditions to reflect what the boys went through.

Several real plane passengers were not presented in the film, notably Gaston Costemalle, Alexis Hounie, Guido Magri, Felipe Macirriin and Julio Martinez-Lamas.

Yes, some names have been changed. And no, not all actors are South American. But there is a visual honesty in the cast and a clear effort to match faces to the real ones. More importantly, the film honors the emotion of the moment. This is not afraid of the most painful realities, but it never persists for the value of the shock. And, the infamous decision to survive by eating the bodies of the dead is managed with humanity. It is solemn, devastating and treated with the weight it deserves.

Alive is one of the best biopics of the 1990s

The rugby team after crashing
Image via paramount

In a decade that produced some of the most emblematic biopics in the history of cinema, with films like Schindler list, the English patient, And Malcolm x, It was easy for a smaller movie like Alive get lost. However, even if this did not quite correspond to the impact of tastes Schindler list, Alive was remarkable to be one of the most specific biopicsThis gave it an advantage over many other films which leaned more towards artistic interpretation than realism.

To his release, Alive met a mixture of praise and criticism. The film was widely praised for its representation of the Andes disaster, with many Marshall admiration tips to keep the story based on the realities faced by the survivors. However, Alive was not without his criticism. Some estimated that the film could have plunged more into the psychological consequences of such traumatic experience. There was a notable absence of exploration in emotional effects on survivors after their return, which left certain aspects of incomplete history. The pace was also a discord for certain viewers, emphasizing survival in the mountains sometimes feeling repetitive or stretched.

The film was based on the book by Piers Paul Read Alive: The history of Andes survivorswhich was published two years after rescue.

However, in some respects, the very aspects in which certain criticisms have condemned Alive are what makes the film effective. Contrary to Schindler listwhich uses a more modified structure to quickly move from one emotional rhythm to the other, Alive Takes its time, allowing the suffocating isolation of survivors to infiltrate each scene. This deliberate stimulation works for Alive Because the heart of history is the weight of time and suffering. The film was to reflect the nature of the survivors’ experience, forcing the public to feel the passage of each tortuous day. On the other hand, a film like Schindler listWith its rapid and episodic episodic narration, could not afford to get used to so long for a moment without undermining the concentration of history on the holocaust. In this context, a more concise treatment works better, because the extent of the event requires a feeling of urgency. But in AliveThe scary immobility of time itself is part of horror, which is why the rhythm of the film is necessary. Alive It is not the return of survivors or their emotional healing, but on the daily fight to stay alive.

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As time has passed since its release, Alive has become recognized as an underestimated jewel in the biopic genre. Alive has reported about $ 82 million worldwide, a respectable amount given its budget of $ 27 million. However, Alive The inheritance has since increased beyond its initial performance at the box office. Over the years, the film has found its place in cultural conversation, especially among those who appreciate its stretched realism.

Although he has never reached the same level as the other biopics of the decade, Alive triggered a lasting conversation on the nature of survival. Over time, it has become one of the most incredible entries of the biopic genre, not because it followed the typical Hollywood formula, but because it dared to plunge the public into the isolation of a life or death struggle which is still difficult to understand. While other biopics of the time may have dominated the titles, Alive turned out to be a remarkable example of how realism can be just as attractive as any fictitious history of survival.


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Alive


Release date

January 15, 1993

Execution time

127 minutes

Director

Frank Marshall

Writers

John Patrick Shanley

Producers

Kathleen Kennedy


  • Image of placement space

    Bruce Ramsay

    Carlitos Páez

  • Setr52203601.jpg

    Josh Hamilton

    Roberto Canessa

  • Setr51971844.jpg

    Ethan Hawke

    Nando Parrado

  • Image of placement space

    Vincent Spano

    Antonio Balbi



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