The film depicts the real-life events of the crash of Flight 571 — from the day Uruguay's Old Christians Club rugby team left for a match in Santiago, Chile, to 72 days later when 16 survivors finally came home.
Netflix's new film Society of the Snow tells a harrowing true story. The movie is inspired by Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, a plane that crashed in 1972, leaving the surviving members of a rugby team stranded for 72 days in the Andes Mountains.
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.
On 13 October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into a glacier in the Andes on its way from Montevideo, Uruguay to Santiago, Chile. Many of the 45 people on board were Uruguayan rugby players.
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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.
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.
Are any people from Society of the Snow still alive?
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.
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 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.
Were the survivors of the Andes plane crash cannibalism?
During the 72 days following the crash, the survivors suffered from extreme hardships, including sub-zero temperatures, exposure, starvation, and an avalanche, which led to the deaths of 13 more passengers. The remaining passengers resorted to cannibalism to survive.
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.
Are the Society of the Snow Survivors still alive?
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.
Which is more accurate, Alive or Society of the Snow?
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 true survival story behind the Oscar-nominated film "Society of the Snow" is almost unbelievable: After a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and its loved ones crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972, 16 people managed to survive for 72 days, surrounded by snow and ice.
What is the true story of the Society of the Snow?
The film depicts the real-life events of the crash of Flight 571 — from the day Uruguay's Old Christians Club rugby team left for a match in Santiago, Chile, to 72 days later when 16 survivors finally came home.
Are there any survivors of the miracle in the Andes?
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.
After Navarro's death, four years later, he remarried Ana María Amorrortu from Argentina, with whom he had four more children: Guillermo Javier, Rafael Javier, Ignacio Javier and Ximena María. He was a cousin of Francisco Abal, who died during the accident. He was a Catholic.
But hope is not enough to keep everyone alive. Slowly, those whose injuries are more serious begin to die: Arturo Nogueira (Fernando Contigiani) and Rafael Echevarren (Benjamín Segura) pass away from their infected wounds, and, a few days later, so does Numa.
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.
By the end of it, their gory remains are occasionally shown. In the plane crash, many people die in different ways (someone breaks their leg, another gets ejected...), it is violent and disturbing but not too graphic.
"Society of Snow" presents a riveting and tense narrative, effectively capturing the harrowing experience of a group of young individuals who survive a plane crash in the Andes.
