Society of the Snow is a survival drama film about air-crash survivors stranded in the middle of the Andes. The film is streaming on Netflix.
The film follows a rugby club and their companions traveling from Uruguay to Chile by plane when they crash down a glacier in the middle of the Andes.
Many of the passengers survive while some come out injured. The survivors have to tough it out in the harsh cold of the mountains and pray for rescue.
When rescue doesn’t come for many days, the passengers are forced to resort to desperate measures such as cannibalism to survive, cutting the flesh of the ones who have perished.
The group’s numbers dwindle but they are ultimately rescued after 70 days out in the mountains, with 16 survivors making it through.
A true account of determination
The film is based on the true events known as the ‘Andes flight disaster’ or the ‘Miracle of the Andes’.
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was traveling from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile when it crashed on 13th October 1972.
The disaster took place when an inexperienced co-pilot, Lieutenant-Colonel Dante Héctor Lagurara, lost his bearings and ended up flying too close to the mountain ridge.
The flight carried 45 passengers and crew, out of which 19 were members of the rugby club ‘Old Christians’.
Their rescue came after 2 survivors, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, trekked the mountains without any specialist gear for 10 days and made it to Chile.
Also Read: Society of the Snow ending explained: Are the survivors rescued?