¡Viven!

I first saw the film "Alive" on video. I really wish I had seen it in the theater as it was probably one of the better films to come out around that time. I thought it was well shotwell acted and the fact that the real survivors were on hand as technical advisors showed me that the film was as accurate as it could be. One of the frustrations Ive come across in discussing this film is when you mention it to someoneand their immediate response is "isn't that the movie where they all eat each other?"...obviouslythese people latched on to one small part of the storyand feel it is the basis for the entire movie. I found "Alive" to be more of an uplifting story. Surethere's cannibalism involvedbut in the 2 hours the film takescannibalism is focused on for approximately 10-15 minutes. Iinsteadfound myself moved by the determination of these young boys to survive. The plane crashthe avalanchestarvationillness...all insurmountable odds stacking themselves against themand they STILL found the strength to preserve their own lives. Alive as a movie about cannibalism? No. It is an example of the human spiritand (I use the term again) an uplifting film with many touching moments. In closingI borrow a line from the film..."If I dieyou can eat me". :-)

Given the knowledge from the onset of the movie that the story and characters are realwe are plunged into a world where man must choose whether or not he wants to survive and live to see the world as he knows it once more. The reality i felt when watching this movie was how easily we take for granted things like food to eatclean clothes to wearand warmth that comes from blankets and heaters. By the middle of the movie (when watching it last night after nearly 10 years) i was aghast at the sheer strength of some of all of the people that survived the initial crash of the actual plane. And when the deciding moment arrives where they must choose whether they are willing to eat human flesh to survive and find a way beyond the AndesI found i asked myself 'what would you do?'. The answer isi don't know. i truly don't. This movie makes you realise how precious life isand how we should never take anything for granted. How we should be thankful of all that we haveand yet how easy it is to lose all that just by a bad twist of fate. Call this movie what you willI think it's a must-see for everyone because it really happened. There are lessons to be learnedmorals to be recognisedand questions to be asked and somehow solved. Each person/character you will encounter in this movie is unique which makes it all the more worthwhile to watch. Because you find yourself sympathetic with the viewpoints of all the men and women in the movie yet at the same time questioning what decision you would make if you were in their place. Maybe we never will know or understand what they went through. But by watching this movie and reading the bookit will help us become wiser people and possibly open our minds to the endless enigma that is lifeGodand the vastness and emptiness of the world that lies not so beyond our reach.

I would like to say how powerful the movie is. Being forced into a circumstance where you are being tested constantly in order to survive for 72 days. I thought that the acting in such a disaster film was expressed decently. Although critics and viewers(why then did you waste your money?) nitpick the dialogueit ran smoothly in the compressed time given. Exactly how would you pass the time in conversation if you survived the plane crashfreezing temperatureshunger and watching other people die in front you for 72 days? I don't think the dialogue was that badconsidering the time slot and trying to keep the story interesting for its two hours. When I first saw itI was shocked by the plane crash sequence. I first thought it was all about cannibalism-like the Donner party- but it wasn't. It was more about keeping hope alive and working together even when despair and dying seems easier to give in to. What the rugby teammates did under the circumstances was incredible until they made the solution to hike out and get help. I haven't read the book its based onyet I read a little about the actual people who went through the ordeal. There are similarities and contrasts with the real-life story and the movie. I appreciate the movie after seeing several times and the actual story behind it. I think it's one of the most fantastic films that I have seen.

I watched this when I was a kid and probably far too young for this type of a movie. It was scary back then especially being forced to eat people to survive. I recently watched Society Of The Snow with the English dub on Netflix it was really great and very heartbreaking. I think it's everything that Alive was lacking. I will say Alive was a great attempt to tell a very difficult story though so without comparing it to Society Of The Snowit's a good movie and still shows you what the human spirit can do to survive but if you really want to feel the horror of what happened to this rugby teamthen check out Society Of The Snow.

Alive is a great movie experience. It is based on a true event in 1972 and on the narrative book by Piers Paul Read. It's about a Uraguayan college rugby team whose chartered airplane crashed deep in the icy Andes Mountains while on its way to a game in SantiagoChile. Reeling with disbelief and shock and bleeding from dozens of wounds the passengers who lived through the crash are faced with the brutal elements starvation and the horror that they may never be found alive. The cast is terrific: Ethan Hawke as Nando the levelheaded determined leader; Vincent Spano as desperate Antonio whose optimism slowly crumbles under the weight of hopelessness; Josh Hamilton as medical student Roberto who tirelessly treats gangrenous wounds knowing his ministrations are useless; and especially Bruce Ramsay as Carlitos whose unwavering faith in God and his sense of dark humor ("If you eat me will you promise to clean your plates?") acts as the glue that holds this wet shivering clump of survivors together. You indeed can feel the cold and the misery as you watch these poor people wade through waist deep snow endure a nightmarish avalanche spend days at a time soaked to their skins in minus forty degree winds and face the ultimate decision that will make or break them physically emotionally and spiritually: whether or not they can bring themselves to eat the bodies of friends and relatives who did not survive the crash. Everything in this movie from James Newton Howard's touching music score to the unbeatable cinematography showing the majesty and severity of the Andesis beautiful and flawless. This movie is one I'd recommend to anyone who wants an excitingtouchingunforgettable movie to chew on for years to come.