On Friday the 13th of October 1972, a Uruguayan charter flight crashed in the Andes mountains, carrying the Old Christians rugby team and their companions. Seventy-one days later, two of the survivors walked out of the mountain range into a small farming village. 

This incredible true story spawned a novel, “Alive” by Piers Paul Read which compiled each survivor’s account of their life on the mountain into a comprehensive story. From this novel came the movie of the same name and nearly thirty years later “Society of the Snow” took another turn telling the story of both the survivors and the dead. 

The prevailing detail of the story, and tagline of most articles, is the food source of the survivors. On the 10th day they made the difficult choice of turning to the bodies of the dead to provide them the protein needed to survive. The taboo nature of their survival captured attention worldwide and generated a morbid fascination towards the story. 

The 1993 movie “Alive” manages to fit in the most important aspects of the story, but seems to miss the essential message: that everyone played a role in the survival of the others. The story is sensationalized in typical American fashion, focusing on embellished drama within the group, the grisly nature of their food and the adventure of their time in the mountains. 

In contrast, “Society of the Snow” examines the evolution of the survivors’ relationship with their faith and the bond that forms among them as they work together to survive the nightmare that they’ve crashed into. 

While the 1993 movie “Alive” focused on the shock aspect of the group’s food source, “Society of the Snow” examines the group’s struggles to justify this choice and the ethical dilemmas they faced. The 2024 film treats this decision with respect for both the survivors and the dead. 

Nando Parrado is a name that anyone familiar with the story will recognize. Over the course of these seventy-two days he lost his mother, sister, and best friend in the accident. He suffered a broken skull in the crash and then after sixty-one days on the mountain he walked and climbed over thirty miles of the Andes alongside Roberto Canessa to find help. 

After thirty years of grappling with how this accident altered the course of his life, he wrote his own personal account of the miracle, dubbing it, “Miracle in the Andes; seventy-two days on the mountain and my long trek home.”    

Parrado has long been the hero of this story, rightfully so given his determination to walk for help against the brutal elements and unknown landscape. The 1993 movie uses him as the protagonist as the rest of the boys fall to the side, given personalities to fit into the traditional storyline of an adventure movie. 

The 2024 “Society of the Snow” shifts the focus towards the group as a whole, with Parrado’s personal arc as more of a B plot. Giving each individual boy credit for their contribution to the group’s survival and especially the efforts of the boys who did not make it off the mountain, something that was relatively overlooked in the 1993 version.  

Roberto Canessa, a very visible character in “Alive”, as well as “Society of the Snow” served as the main doctor during the group’s time on the Andes, despite only being a first year medical student. 

Canessa accompanied Parrado in the thirty-seven mile trek across the Andes to find help, and “Society of the Snow” emphasizes both their friendship and Canessa’s efforts during the first few days after the crash.  

“Society of the Snow” uses the voice of Numa Turcatti to tell this story of death and survival. He serves as Nando’s opposite, firmly believing that help will come to them and refusing to eat the dead until it becomes absolutely clear that rescue is not guaranteed. 

His voice is able to act as a narrator for the rest of the group and moves throughout the story with a fluidity that was not accomplished in the 1993 version. 

Numa was a great asset to the group during their time on the mountain, leading several expeditions in attempts to find resources and help as well as serving as a moral compass. As a character, he has been relatively overlooked but “Society of the Snow” goes to great lengths to honor his empathy and loyalty to his teammates as well as his bravery in an impossible situation. 

The 1993 movie “Alive” starred Ethan Hawke as Nando Parrado. Ethan Hawke, known for “The Black Phone” and “Before Sunrise”, is a well-known name and accomplished actor who is not Uruguayan. With that being said, no one in the movie about the Uruguayan rugby team is of Uruguayan descent. 

The ensemble cast of “Society of the Snow ” is majority newcomers of Uruguayan and Argentine descent. The movie is shot in Spanish and the survivors of the crash served as supervisors and consultants on the film. 

The film is directed by J.A Bayona who is responsible for the 2012 film, “The Impossible” centered around the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. This film received praise from the real-life victims of this natural disaster and Bayona earned a reputation of being able to adeptly handle tragedies with respect to both the survivors and the deceased. 

Bayona’s attention to detail and drive to make the movie as close to the truth as possible resulted in a nearly ten year delay and a budget of sixty-five million dollars. Establishing shots were filmed in the Andes and the main portion featuring the actors was shot in the cold Sierra Nevada, giving the actors the experience of being in the harsh environment of their real-life counterparts. 

Bayona pushed for a cast of newcomers to make the film feel as authentic as possible, avoiding well-known faces to allow the audience to connect more to the personalities and survival efforts of each individual person impacted by the crash. 

The movie pays tribute to each and every victim of this accident, reminding the audience at every turn that this is a real story that affected real people. Sixteen men survived the elements and lived through the most harrowing example of human survival. But forty-two passengers of the plane suffered gruesome injuries and never left the Andes mountains. 

This is a story that will force you to confront your own mortality and appreciate what you have. An extreme example of human survival serves as a reminder that the human spirit is made to persevere. Nobody can imagine what it was like to be in that mountain range surrounded by dead friends and the seemingly impossibility of their survival. 

But everyone has suffered and Nando Parrado has always used his story as an inspiration as well as proof that you can survive to live a life filled with love. “Everyone has their own Andes.” Is a striking line from his memoir and shows that this is a story of love and perseverance above all else.  

“Society of the Snow” is streaming on Netflix, along with a companion documentary featuring the actors, crew and the real life survivors of the crash. If it manages to pique your interest even further, both Parrado and Read’s accounts of the events on the mountain can be found online or in most bookstores.