A survival expert reacts to 'Society of the Snow' and the true story of how 16 people survived the Andes plane crash. "Society of the Snow" is based on the remarkable true story of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes. For 72 days, 16 people managed to survive, dealing with extreme cold, starvation, and dehydration.
How accurate is Netflix's Society of the Snow? The Netflix movie is extremely faithful to the true story, apart from some minor differences. For example, the plane didn't fly straight from Montevideo to the mountains where it crashed in real life.
What is the true story behind the Society of the Snow?
In 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed into the Andes mountains, forcing the survivors to endure freezing temperatures, avalanches, starvation and, eventually, eat the dead among them.
Society of the Snow was released on Netflix on January 4, 2024, and has quickly become one of the most popular films on the streaming platform. There were sixteen survivors of the plane crash and the subsequent 72 days in the frigid and dangerous terrain of the Andes Mountain Range who were rescued in December 1972.
When the survivors were debating about eating the dead bodies, Roberto mentioned that they had not had any food or water for seven days and seven nights. This prompted several other survivors to comment that their pee had turned black. Their pee had actually turned dark brown, which is a sign of severe dehydration.
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW Netflix VS True Story & Movie Review
Why didn't the Society of snow start a fire?
The place where the plane crashed was not strategically visible, so it would have been pointless to try to make a fire. Furthermore, they didn't have enough flammable objects to cause such a big fire, which is why the lighter was used for cigarettes but never a signal fire.
Of the 16 survivors, 14 are still alive. José Luis “Coche” Inciarte died in 2023 of cancer, per the AFP, as did Javier Methol in 2015. Sergio Catalan, the herdsman who encountered Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa after their 10-day trek through the Andes from the crash site, died in 2020 at the age of 91.
The charter flight was carrying the team to a match in Santiago, the Chilean capital. Twenty-nine people died, but 16 managed to survive 72 days under the most precarious conditions, without food, adequate shelter, or medical supplies for the injured.
Did the actors in snow Society have to lose weight?
4 Society Of The Snow's Actors Really Lost Weight
Thus, director J.A. Bayona wanted the actors to lose weight over time in a similar fashion to the real-life survivors. Because of this, the actors were on a strict diet throughout the film, allowing them to gradually lose weight throughout filming.
Which is more accurate, Society of the Snow or Alive?
Society of the Snow tells a more authentic and dignified story of the Andes plane crash survivors compared to the Hollywoodized version in Alive. The movie portrays the trauma and suffering of the survivors in a tangible way, making their experiences feel more genuine and relatable.
The plane's fuselage came to rest in the cirque of the Glaciar de las Lágrimas or Glacier of Tears at 34°45′53.5″S 70°17′06.6″W at an elevation of 3,570 metres (11,710 ft), in the Malargüe Department in the Mendoza Province of Argentina.
All the sources claim they hiked 60 km in ten days until they encountered Sergio Catalan at the confluence of Rio del Azufre and Rio del Portillo rivers.
Where are the 1972 Andes plane crash survivors now? Of the 16 survivors, 14 are still alive. José Luis “Coche” Inciarte died in 2023 of cancer, per the AFP, as did Javier Methol in 2015.
What happened to the rugby team that crashed in the Andes?
Uruguayan Air Force flight 571, flight of an airplane charted by a Uruguayan amateur rugby team that crashed in the Andes Mountains in Argentina on October 13, 1972, the wreckage of which was not located for more than two months. Of the 45 people aboard the plane, only 16 survived the ordeal.
Methol passed away on June 4, 2015, at the British Hospital of Montevideo, at the age of 79. The following day the wake was celebrated with a mass at the San José de la Montaña de Carrasco and a funeral procession was held to the Buceo Cemetery where his remains were buried.
The next day, Oct. 13, 1972, the plane took off again and was flying through the Andes when the co-pilot at the controls started to descend, mistakenly thinking he'd cleared the mountain range. The aircraft hit a mountain, breaking both wings off and causing the fuselage to slide down a mountain.
Fernando "Nando" Seler Parrado Dolgay (born 9 December 1949) is a Uruguayan businessman, producer, motivational speaker and television presenter, and former rugby player and racing driver. He is one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed in the Andes on 13 October 1972.
However, a little over an hour into the flight, the pilot misjudged his location and—with clearance from air traffic control—began to descend before the plane had made it out of the Andes. Unable to clear the ridgeline, it struck a mountain, losing both wings and its tail on impact.
Did the people from Society of the Snow get in trouble for cannibalism?
Whether cannibalism is illegal or not in the rugby team's home country of Uruguay or in their destination country of Chile, there's no indication that the survivors depicted in Society of the Snow were ever charged with a crime.
The survivors were so happy with how the movie portrayed their story that they even made small cameos. The movie has some of the most anxiety-inducing scenes I have ever watched, with the plane crash scene making you feel as if you were there with the incredible sound and directing.
Society of the Snow's survivors endured extreme conditions and limited resources for an astonishing 72 days in the mountains. To survive, the group had to resort to desperate measures, including eating the stuffing from the plane's seats and consuming the bodies of the deceased.
To faithfully recreate a 50-year-old real life plane crash and remarkable tale of survival, the filmmakers behind Society of the Snow combined LED and green screens with multiple practical sets of the plane's fuselage and put them all 2000+ metres up a mountain, writes Adrian Pennington.
