Society Of The Snow: Did Numa Die Because He Refused Cannibalism? Where Are The Survivors Now?

¡°We trusted each other. We battled for one another. This is a rugby narrative, then. My life was saved by rugby."

Some movies just make a permanent home in your mind and heart and Netflix¡¯s latest offering Society Of The Snow is one such film which will be remembered by many for years to come.

The moving Spanish survival drama helmed by J.A. Bayona has become a contender in this year¡¯s Oscar race.

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The Netflix drama has made it to the Oscars shortlist in four categories: best international feature (for Spain), makeup and hairstyling, original score and visual effects.

While Society Of The Snow made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year, the true-life tale of the Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight disaster was finally made available for the world by the OTT giant.

The harrowing story of the Uruguayan rugby team who crashed while crossing the Andes mountains, en route Chile, has been told many times before - be it books, documentaries and in two feature films, the 1976 Mexploitation movie Survive! and Frank Marshall¡¯s 1993 English-language drama Alive starring Ethan Hawke. It also served as the loose inspiration for Showtime¡¯s Yellowjackets.

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Bayona took interest in the subject after author Pablo Vierci¡¯s book of the same name was published in 2008. It narrated a non-fiction account of the disaster in collaboration with the survivors and their families.

With a reported budget of 70 million dollars, the filmmaker took almost a decade to bring this story to the screen. Interestingly, Society Of The Snow was shot entirely in Spanish and the cast consisted of lesser known South American actors.

What Is Society Of The Snow About?

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Inspired by Flight 571, this film is about a plane that crashed into the Andes mountains in 1972, leaving a Uruguayan rugby team stranded. It had 40 passengers and 5 crew members including members of the local rugby team, supporters, friends, and family.

Twelve of the passengers perished on impact. The remaining 33 endured the horrifying and desolate conditions in the snow-covered mountains. Eventually, other passengers died from injuries and poor health. In the end, only 16 of these people made it out alive!

How Long Were The Passengers Stranded Before Being Rescued?

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The horrifying crash took place on October 13, 1972. For 72 days, the passengers battled extreme conditions and in the end only 16 of them were rescued as others perished due to starvation, injuries and extreme cold.

Fifty one years have passed since the incident, and 14 of them are still alive because they were extremely young when the disaster occurred. Jos¨¦ Luis "Coche" Inciarte passed away in 2023, while Javier Methol passed away in 2015.

What Were The Events That Followed The Crash?

After the crash, the survivors kept waiting in anticipation of being rescued. However, as days started passing, it became clear that nobody knew exactly where to find them. The rescue aircrafts flew close to their location, but they were invisible down in the valley because of the snow.

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For the unversed, the crashed plane had lost its tail and wings upon impact. The survivors tucked themselves inside the fuselage in the biting cold by covering the opening with luggage. Amid harsh weather conditions and no food, ten days later with the help of a radio, the survivors got to know that rescue missions had been stalled due to unfavourable weather conditions as it was making it difficult for them to fly past the mountains.

This was only the beginning of their troubles. On the 17th day, the fuselage was hit by an avalanche which buried them inside the plane and led to the immediate death of eight passengers.

With no food to curb starvation, the group had to resort to cannibalism. After a lot of difficult conversations, they decided to utilise the deceased bodies to keep themselves alive.

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There was a lot of resistance from those who came from faith including Numa, the narrator of this tragic tale. He declined ¡®food¡¯ even though he knew that it would bring him closer to his end.

After a two-month ordeal, on December 12, three survivors decided to venture into the unknown in order to find help. It took Canessa, Nando Parrado and Antonio 'Tint¨ªn' Vizint¨ªn over a week of trekking in the snowy mountains to find out that there was a possibility of human life nearby.

On December 21, they were found by a Chilean local on a horse. Since they were on different sides of a river and couldn't hear each other, the man threw a pen and paper at them in order to communicate.

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Parrado wrote the famous message, which is featured in the Netflix movie ¨C a message that eventually saved their lives:

"I come from a plane that crashed in the mountains. I am Uruguayan. We have been walking for 10 days. I have 14 friends injured at the accident site. We need help. We have no food. Please come look for us."

The man took this message to the authorities, and that¡¯s when the nightmare was finally over.

When the survivors were rescued, the media went berserk. Soon after, it started focusing on one particular aspect of their survival - Cannibalism.

Cannibalism - How Did The Survivors Deal With This Moral Dilemma?

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Bayona, the director, ensured that the treatment of one of the major highlights of the film was dealt with exceptional sensitivity. Of course, the subject garnered extreme attention in real life as well but one has to understand that this survival tale included a lot of internal debates and moral dilemmas that the passengers faced.

It showcases the humane perspective and the complex choices which will compel the viewers to imagine what they could have done had they been in a similar situation.

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The events in ¡®Society of the Snow¡¯ are narrated by Numa Turcatti, a 24-year-old law student who boards the plane with his friends on the rugby team. Marcelo, Numa, and a few others were of the opinion that it was blasphemous to even think about eating human meat. Another section of the group believed that they should do whatever it takes to survive because if god was there, they would not have found themselves in that kind of situation in the first place.

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Marcelo and Numa both held onto their beliefs for a long time. It was only after they heard the announcement of rescue missions being stalled that Marcelo asked everybody to eat human flesh, as he came to a conclusion that saving lives was more important than holding on to one¡¯s religious beliefs.

This tug of war between what¡¯s right and what needs to be done is the true essence of this film.

Did Numa Die Because He Refused To Eat Human Flesh?

Well, this wasn¡¯t the only factor that led to Numa¡¯s death. After getting hit by an avalanche, the survivors were immersed in snow with no breathing space inside the fuselage.

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Numa, performed an act of bravery, where he kicked out a window for everyone to breathe, out of rage. In this process, he cut his leg. An injury with no treatment and reluctance to eat human flesh could be the reasons why he eventually met his end.

Where Are The Real Survivors Now?

It has been more than 50 years now. When the harrowing incident took place, all of them very very young. Out of the 16 survivors 14 are still alive.Javier Methol and Jos¨¦ Luis "Coche" Inciarte died in 2015 and 2023, respectively. In 2022, the survivors met on October 13, to pay tribute to the victims fifty years after the crash.

It¡¯s their ritual to meet every year on December 22 which marks the day they were rescued. They share a meal together and remember that they survived.

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Many of them have written books about the incident from their own perspective. They might not have been directly involved in the making of the movie, but they were consulted during its creation (both survivors and the families of those who died in the snow). They were shown the movie once it was finished.

Society Of The Snow is available to stream on Netflix.

(To read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading Indiatimes BINGE)

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