J. A. Bayona's Society of the Snow trailer breakdown: 3 key takeaways

The highly acclaimed Spanish director J. A. Bayona is back with another spine-chilling adventure biography, Society of the Snow, on Netflix. The trailer released on Thursday, August 24, 2023, has set the stage for an intense cinematic experience coming up in the next two weeks.

Featuring Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Diego Vegezzi, Esteban Kukuriczka, Rafael Federman, and Andy Pruss, the official synopsis of the film states the plot briefly.

"The flight of a rugby team crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world's toughest environments to survive."

Society of the Snow is slated for a worldwide release on Netflix on September 9, 2023.

---

Society of the Snow: Three major takeaways from the trailer released

1) A true story of survival

Society of the Snow is based on the 1972 Andes plane crash and revisits one of the most astonishing events in the modern history of air travel. The 1972 plane accident involved a chartered flight carrying 45 passengers from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile.

The passengers on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 included the players and families of the Old Christians Club rugby union and the crew members of the flight who were stranded in Malargüe Department, Mendoza Province, Argentina, as the fuselage of the aircraft came to rest upon the Glacier of Tears.

The unfortunate event came to be known as the Miracle of the Andes (Milagro de los Andes) and has been subsequently turned into several film and television adaptations. The list includes the Showtime series Yellowjackets (2021), Frank Marshall's Alive (1993), and the Joris Ivens Award-winner Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (2007).

---

2) Themes of resilience and hope

Despite the overwhelming conditions and the extreme odds of survival, the film focuses on the unbeatable human spirit in the face of calamities. Out of the 45 passengers who had boarded the aircraft, only 29 made it alive without any supply of food or water as they fed upon the deceased human bodies.

As the voiceover in the trailer speaks about the lack of hope, the film tells us a detailed story, banking on the theme of persistence with elements of cannibalism.

"I wonder who those pictures are for. Maybe they're for our families. We will live again in their imaginations. What happened to us? What happens when the world deserts you? Who were we in the mountains?"

The group was stranded for 72 days in a region prone to blizzards and snowstorms. After a tragic avalanche, the team was brought down to 19 members, who survived but only 16 made it out alive at the end.

---

3) Harsh filming conditions

The Society of the Snow, or La Sociedad de la Nieve, is based on the 2008 book written by Uruguayan journalist Pablo Vierci and a 2017 publication by Vierci and Roberto Canessa with the title I Had to Survive. Canessa was one of the 16 survivors.

The filming of the production took place in the actual site of the crash, the Andes, in similar harsh conditions so as to emulate the real-life scenario. The trailer showcases the infamous fuselage wreckage, which was built separately for three different filming locations.

---

Produced by Belén Atienza and Sandra Hermida, Society of the Snow will premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in an out-of-competition slot. It will be released on Netflix globally on September 9.