As a general rule of thumb, the survival thriller is one of the most consistent subgenres of cinema for generating the maximum amount of nail-biting tension, with 1993’s Alive adding extra layers onto an already-intense form of storytelling by regaling audiences with not just a true story, but one with a harrowing twist.
The fate of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 has been seared into the collective consciousness for decades, due partly to the sheer volume of adaptations to have arrived in the decades since the 1972 incident. There’s been at least a dozen film, television, audio, and literary re-tellings of the haunting tale, but it’s the Hollywood version that’s riding the crest of a stomach-churning wave on Reddit.
Directed by industry veteran and legendary producer Frank Marshall, Ethan Hawke plays the lead role of Nando Parrado. When a rugby team’s plane goes down in the remote vastness of the Andes, the group struggle through the harsh conditions by any means necessary to ensure that at least some of them make it out alive.
Once resources begin to run low and several members of the group pass away, a nightmarish dilemma presents itself. You’re probably keenly aware of what that decision turns out to be and how it ends up panning out, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful almost 30 years after Alive landed to a surprisingly muted reception from critics.
It’s the stuff of nightmares that people had to live through, and as often as the story has been told across all forms of media, Alive is difficult to forget once you’ve witnessed it firsthand.
