Yes, Society of the Snow is indeed based on a true story that centers around the real-life Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 disaster that occurred in 1972.
Director JA Bayona and survivor Carlitos Páez speak exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the incredible tale of survival following the 1972 Andes flight disaster. Netflix's new film Society of the Snow tells a harrowing true story.
The Society follows the story of a group of teenagers who must learn to run their own community after the rest of the population of their town (West Ham, Connecticut) disappears. The mystery begins when the students of the local high school return early from a canceled field trip and find that everyone else is gone.
What happened to the survivors of the Society of the Snow?
Since they were very young when the accident happened, almost all sixteen of them are still alive — Javier Methol and José Luis "Coche" Inciarte died in 2015 and 2023, respectively. The survivors met on October 13, 2022, to pay tribute to the victims 50 years after the crash.
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW Netflix VS True Story & Movie Review
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.
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.
Why didn't they start a fire in Society of the Snow?
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.
Nando made a superhuman effort, survived for 72 days, and found his way out of the Andes, after an 10-day snowy trek through the mountains with his friend Roberto Canessa.
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.
The answer, it turns out, is that the parents are perfectly fine — it's the residents of "New Ham" who have been mysteriously transported elsewhere. Over the course of multiple episodes, it's revealed that this town is not "the" town that the teens grew up in, just a very convincing lookalike.
More than a year later, in August 2020, The Society was cancelled due to cost increases and production scheduling issues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the show's biggest mysteries remain unresolved, including what happened to Newton's character Allie Pressman and the other teens in New Ham.
At first, she's upset because she doesn't want Sam to commit to something he doesn't want to do. But, he insists that he wants a family himself and she agrees to this arrangement. When Sam tells Gwen that he's the father of Becca's baby, she responds with a surprised but fairly nonchalant, "Huh.
Rescue helicopters arrived at the crash site on Dec. 22 but were only able to airlift out six of the 14 remaining survivors due to bad weather. The other eight were picked up the following day. After making it out of the mountains, Canessa went on to practice medicine and became a renowned pediatric cardiologist.
Using only materials found in the aircraft wreck, they climbed 839 metres (2,753 ft) from the crash site up 30-to-60 degree slopes to a 4,503-metre (14,774 ft) ridge to the west of the summit of Mount Seler. From there they trekked 53.9 kilometres (33.5 mi) for 10 days into Chile before finding help.
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.
The farmer was the first person to encounter the Uruguayan rugby players from the plane crash, whose story is recounted in 'Society of the Snow' Sergio Catalán, with Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa in Los Maitenes (Chile).
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.
As such the survivors have said this is the most accurate and true telling of the story. The actual survivors are extras in many scenes that take place in Montevideo and in Chile.
If some of the tissues that contain myoglobin – the skeletal and cardiac muscle – are damaged or ruptured, the protein is released into the blood where it will go into the urine, causing the typical black colour we see in the film. Rupture can have many different causes, one of them being hypothermia.
Where are the survivors of Society of the Snow now?
Today, in 2024, only 14 of the 16 survivors are alive. Javier Methol passed away in 2015 due to cancer, surviving almost 43 years after the crash. He was 36 at the time of the accident, the oldest of the survivors. José Luis “Coche” Inciarte, died in 2023, also of cancer.
The plane had 45 passengers and crew when it crashed, carrying friends, family and players of the Old Christians Club rugby team who were travelling from Montevideo in Uruguay to a match in Chile. Thirty-three people survived the crash, but only 16 of them, all young men, were rescued.
Sadly, Methol was the first of the plane crash survivors to pass away as he died of cancer in 2015. After losing his wife Liliana during the events following the plane crash, he remarried Ana María with whom he had four more children. He worked in the tobacco industry until his death at the age of 79.
The pilot is gravely injured, has blood pouring out of his mouth, and is very clearly dying. It is one of the most gory parts of Society of the Snow, but the pilot does tell the passengers that they are near Chile and says a prayer for their souls.
“What remains of the plane is still in a place where, in general, there is snow. It is at least 10 metres below where it was during the 72 days that the survivors were sheltered,” says Moraga.
