Franco plays Aron Ralston, the hiker who in 2003 was trapped for four days under a boulder and had to amputate his own arm with a dull knife to survive. At early showings of the film, between 13 and 16 people fainted, two reportedly became lightheaded, and three had seizures, according to a survey on Movieline.
Violent/Gory Content: It's been reported that Aron's amputation sequence has made moviegoers faint or vomit. It's a three-minute montage, and it is indeed brutal. Aron breaks both bones in his forearm, then gets at gouging through the skin and muscle surrounding them with a painfully dull blade. It's bloody, gory work.
He did so, then amputated his forearm with his multi-tool, using the dull 2-inch (50 mm) knife and pliers for the tougher tendons. The painful process took an hour, during which time he used tubing from a CamelBak as a tourniquet, taking care to leave major arteries until last.
As an avid climber and adventurer, Aron Ralston often imagined countless different scenarios of how he'd save himself if something went wrong. But he never thought of the one that would end up making him famous after he cut off his own arm in 2003 to escape from 127 hours stuck in Utah's Bluejohn Canyon.
I believe he said, other than the swimming with the two girls scene (which in real life was a quick chat with the two of them), that watching the movie was like watching a documentary, so pretty damn accurate. He said Franco's take where he sings Phish songs to himself is what he would actually do himself.
127 Hours: How True is The Movie to The Real Story?
Is the pool in 127 Hours real?
Additionally, Homestead Crater is where they captured the underwater pool scenes. This natural wonder is within the Homestead Resort and Spa, located in the serene Midway, within the scenic Wasatch Canyon.
Before shooting began both James Franco and director Danny Boyle were allowed to view the footage in order to accurately portray the events in the movie. The camcorder used by James Franco in the film was the actual one Aron Ralston used when he was trapped in Blue John Canyon.
Parts without major muscle groups, such as the fingers, have been replanted up to 94 hours later, although 12 hours is typically the maximum ischemic time tolerated. Parts that contain major muscle groups, such as the arms, need to be replanted within 6–8 hours to have a viable limb.
Aron Ralston's Miraculous Escape That Inspired 127 Hours
Wikimedia CommonsAron Ralston atop a mountain shortly after he survived his accident in Utah. The dream of a future family left Aron Ralston with an epiphany: He didn't have to cut through his bones.
Five days later, after having tried fruitlessly to budge the 800-pound rock, he broke the bones in his forearm and amputated his arm below the elbow with a dull pocketknife. The operation took about an hour.
Amputation is painful and very frightening. Control bleeding by applying direct pressure to the wound. Raise the injured area. If bleeding continues, recheck the source of the bleeding and reapply direct pressure, with help from someone who is not tired.
Boyle shot 127 Hours at the exact spot where Ralston had the accident but added some fictional scenes, such as when he splashes in a secret pool with the women he meets before the accident (the reality – helping them with a few basic climbs – was much more prosaic).
With the bones broken, he successfully amputated his arm using the knife, with CamelBak tubing functioning as a tourniquet. Following his self-amputation, Ralston scrambled out of the slot, rigged an anchor and rappelled 65 feet down into another branch of the canyon, and then hiked out.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys rock climbing, or anyone who enjoys adventure or documentary movies. On a MPAA rating scale, I think this gets a R solely based on the amputation scene.
Despite the plaudits and runtimes of these films, though, there is one film that holds the undisputed crown as the longest film ever made. The 2012 Swedish documentary Logistics runs for 857 hours, which, for those of you keeping track at home, adds up to a runtime of 35 days (and 17 hours).
His efforts were futile as he was unable to free his arm from the 800 lb (360 kg) chockstone. After three days of trying to lift and break the boulder, the dehydrated and delirious Ralston prepared to amputate his trapped arm at a point on the mid-forearm in order to escape.
127 Hours. Historical box office gross: $18,329,500 Budget: $18,000,000 Domestic box office ratio: 1.02 The true story of climber Aron Ralston is as inspirational as it is gut-wrenching and difficult to watch.
The time until reperfusion in the finger then becomes important as muscle tissue becomes irreversibly damaged as early as 6 h following warm ischemia, with other tissue typically following after 12 h [11].
Replantation of an amputated part is best done within 6 hours after the injury. But replantation can still be successful if the amputated part has been cooled for up to 24 hours after the injury.
Losing a limb can deliver a one-two punch. First there's the physical and mental trauma of an amputation. Then, for more than 80 percent of amputees, comes the chronic pain that can be nearly as debilitating as their original injury. For some, the painful feelings radiate from the limb that has been removed.
Using layers of fiberglass, steel bone, silicone, fibrous muscle and tendon, functional veins and arteries, and translucent silicone skin with a thin coating of subcutaneous silicone fat, makeup designer Tony Gardner helped build false arm rigs.
As gut-wrenching as it is inspirational, 127 Hours unites one of Danny Boyle's most beautifully exuberant directorial efforts with a terrific performance from James Franco.
