SOCIETY OF THE SNOW 🤩

This past weekend, at the intro to the screening of SOCIETY OF THE SNOW, the moderator said the film was “hopeful.” He was surprised that the word hopeful received laughs from the audience. I laughed as well since the last thing I thought the story of the sixteen survivors with the difficult choice they made would be “hopeful.” Yet, if audiences can move past the gruesome decision, SOCIETY OF THE SNOW is profoundly one of the most hopeful and spiritual films of 2023.

Since director J.A. Bayona burst onto the scene with 2007’s THE ORPHANAGE, I’ve thought he would one day direct a masterpiece. Stylistically and emotionally, A MONSTER CALLS and THE IMPOSSIBLE are near perfect. Yet, A MONSTER CALLS needed better writing, and THE IMPOSSIBLE couldn’t escape its genre trappings (despite the best performance of Naomi Watts’s career). SOCIETY OF THE SNOW is the film Bayona was born to make, and it connects three elements that make it the closest he has come yet to directing a masterpiece:

1. Spirituality – I still cannot believe that J.A. Bayona shot portions of this movie at the exact location in the Andes where it happened in real life. In the screening, he talked about asking permission from the spirits to film in the mountains. And that spirituality is captured in SOCIETY OF THE SNOW as the audience also feels like they have permission to hear the unfiltered story.
2. Brutal Action / Horror – The opening plane crash sequence is officially the best plane crash in cinematic history. It’s disturbing in all the right ways. In the packed theater, the audience all let go of a collective sigh once it was over. It’s that intense, and that tone is carried throughout the entire picture.
3. Group Protoganist – Rather than have an individual protagonist, the story is told from the perspective of the entire group. This choice works as the movie tackles masculinity and immerses the audience in the group’s fight to stay alive. Also, per J.A. Bayona, upon viewing the film, the survivors felt like they were back on the mountain, which helped them all heal. Talk about movie magic. 

We may never know the meaning of life and why this plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. However, with SOCIETY OF THE SNOW, we at least hear the stories, mourn the lost innocent people, and get as many answers in the mountains as possible. It’s far superior than the 1993’s ALIVE and deserves to be seen with an audience on the big screen. 

It’s available in theatres on December 22nd.