This is an astounding piece of work, in that it deals with a subject that seems almost impossible to re-create: the crash of the plane in the Andes mountains in October, 1972, carrying a male football team from Uruguay. The young men who are cast in the roles of the surviving members are all amazing actors, and hold their characters in ways that are beyond imagining, as they would have to maintain the same character throughout the time that they had to film in the confines of the wreckage.
As a minor critique, I had a hard time distinguishing between the team members themselves, and lost track early on of which one was telling the story -- apparently I somehow could not associate the voiceover with the particular actor, and so I got slightly confused after trying to keep track of which cast member was the main protagonist.
What seems to be most astounding is how many of them were able to survive in the harshest of all climates, and to maintain their mental state in a situation that seems hopeless to say the least. This is a brilliant re-creation of the event and the outcome is equally astounding.
Everything about this film says that it is an Oscar-worthy project, and certainly deserves to win, with only one minor exception (as evidenced by my 9 instead of 10): the film is slightly too padded, and by removing something like 20 or 30 minutes (at least), the project would then become perfect. I know that the Director has his own viewpoint, but he should sympathize with those of us who are confined to squirming around in our seats after the first 90 or so minutes, and need to get out of the torture of watching such an ordeal without a break. But if that's done in order to emphasize the frustration felt by the team players, it succeeds tremendously.
As a minor critique, I had a hard time distinguishing between the team members themselves, and lost track early on of which one was telling the story -- apparently I somehow could not associate the voiceover with the particular actor, and so I got slightly confused after trying to keep track of which cast member was the main protagonist.
What seems to be most astounding is how many of them were able to survive in the harshest of all climates, and to maintain their mental state in a situation that seems hopeless to say the least. This is a brilliant re-creation of the event and the outcome is equally astounding.
Everything about this film says that it is an Oscar-worthy project, and certainly deserves to win, with only one minor exception (as evidenced by my 9 instead of 10): the film is slightly too padded, and by removing something like 20 or 30 minutes (at least), the project would then become perfect. I know that the Director has his own viewpoint, but he should sympathize with those of us who are confined to squirming around in our seats after the first 90 or so minutes, and need to get out of the torture of watching such an ordeal without a break. But if that's done in order to emphasize the frustration felt by the team players, it succeeds tremendously.