Society of the Snow (2023)
Directed by J.A. Bayona, this Spanish film tells the tale of a plane that crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972 while carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and their friends and family. It's hard to believe, but 16 people (out of 45 on the plane) survived after more than two months trapped on the snowy, desolate mountain range.
If people know about the Andes flight disaster, the most likely think "Oh, that's the rugby team where they had to eat the dead to survive." And indeed, that's exactly what they had to do. There's a great video by Caitlin Doughty about how the cannibalism among the survivors of this disaster "feels different" than other famous cannibalism stories, such as the Donner Party. That's probably because it was handled in a fashion that was both orderly (two of the survivors prepared the meat so that those who ate it didn't need to know who they were eating) and also sacred (the mostly-Catholic group likened it to the Eucharist in order the make moral sense of their actions).
The whole cannibalism thing is handled really well in Society of the Snow, which is brutal to watch but also filled with hope and the triumph of the human will to survive. It shows how the survivors had to work together to survive--not just physically, but spiritually. They told one another not to give up, to keep looking for solutions, to keep helping one another instead of going down the "every man for himself" route. Ultimately, the 16 people who survived owe their lives to the bravery and leadership of Nando Parrado and Robert Canessa, who literally walked out of the damn mountains to find help.
Society of the Snow is a movie that will have you on the edge of your seat, even if you already know the outcome. The story of the Andes flight disaster is fascinating and Bayona does it justice.
Grade: A-
***
The Underground Railroad (2021)
Based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Underground Railroad is a sort of magical realism take on slavery in the Antebellum South and one woman's determination to find freedom. This 10-part miniseries was created and directed by Barry Jenkins and it shows: Jenkins' signature dreamy, reflective style infuses this often horrific and seemingly hopeless series. Jenkins finds the beauty in the connections Cora Randall (Thuso Mbedu) makes during her quest for freedom.
Make no mistake, this is a difficult show to watch, and not just for the depictions of gruesome violence and dehumanization. The Underground Railroad captures the struggle for enslaved people and those escaping slavery to find not just a safe place to lay their heads, but a home. Cora's journey is not just a physical one, but an existential one. In Jenkins' gentle hands, the series is bearable to watch, but just only.
The one criticism I have is that a few of the episodes are slow, but given how contemplative the show as a whole is, the slowness is more of a feature than a bug. And it builds towards a powerful and heartbreaking finale. A tough series, but well worth the watch.
Grade: A-
***
Sexy Beast (2000)
Sexy Beast is a very unique take on a heist movie. In fact, it's a good heist movie for people who don't like heist movies (yours truly) because the actual heist is like 15 minutes of the film. Most of the movie focuses on the lead up and on a truly scary performance by Ben Kingsley as Don Logan, a British mobster and all-around psychopath.
Kingsley isn't the main character though. That would be Ray Winstone as Gal Dove, a retired career criminal who lives in Spain with his wife and friends. It's the classic "every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in" thing. Teddy Bass (Ian McShane), a London-based crime boss, has Don Logan travel to Spain to pull Gal out of retirement for a job. Gal doesn't want to do it, but also feels like he can't say no to the violent and chaotic Don.
I won't say what happens, but the film, directed by Jonathan Glazer, is a thriller where the plot matters less than the relationships between the characters. It's a really good movie although probably not one I'll revisit often. It's good, but not great.
Grade: B+
***
Liberty Heights (1999)
This coming of age film takes place in Baltimore in the 1950s and follows two Jewish brothers, Ben (Ben Foster) and Van (Adrian Brody) as they navigate antisemitism and racial desegregation. Hijinks ensue. I really wanted to like this movie more than I did--it's fine? There are just better coming of age movies. I will say that David Krumholtz is in this film and he really makes any movie he's in better. There's a scene where he and Ben are visiting a rich person's house and Yussel (Krumholtz's character) keeps pointing out how old the furniture is how the gorgeous oak dining table has scratches on it and is probably hard to clean, just completely misunderstanding that this is what "old money" looks like for WASPs. It's a pretty funny scene.
If you like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you'll probably find something to enjoy about Liberty Heights.
Grade: B
***
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