Society Of The Snow Retells A Harrowing True Story

Society Of The Snow is a Spanish-language movie about a real-life Uruguayan plane crash. The very true story sees a soccer team crash land in the Andes mountains, and how they survived despite all odds. The story is equal parts horrifying and hopeful. Check out my Society Of The Snow review.

Please note that the following Society Of The Snow review will be completely spoiler-free.

The True Story That Inspired The Remake

Society Of The Snow is actually a remake of a book of the same name. The new movie recounts the entire story from beginning to end. And it’s just as captivating as it was decades ago. The movie spends very little time establishing its characters before the main plot begins. In this way, Society Of The Snow kind of breaks from convention. Usually, before a disaster, the initial scenes spend some time in character development, exploring the relationships between them and setting the stage. This way, when the disaster strikes, audiences are already invested in the characters, making it that much more shocking and thrilling.

However, Society Of The Snow doesn’t spend too much time with its characters, pre-disaster. We meet a group of rowdy and fun-loving athletes who are on their way to a soccer match. As they board the rickety plane, they’re all having a great time. So when we finally see them post-plane crash, it’s at their worst. But the movie does a great job of still making audiences care about these people. And it’s not just a cast of 2-3 people. The ensemble cast is massive, featuring, easily 4-5 leads, with even more supporting characters. But the audience most come to know them and care for them as they see them in this setting.

Society Of The Snow Review Can’t Spoil Anything

Even without spoilers, the story of Society Of The Snow is a true story, so the outcome is known. But even then, the film is able to keep the tension of the story alive for most of the film. It’s had a difficult job of showcasing the despair of these people, but still allowing some semblance of hope to resonate. The characters’ journeys from desperately trying to survive, to actually finding rescue, is absolutely riveting. From beginning to end you can’t help but marvel at their resilience and perseverance to simply live, despite everything around them, from plunging temperatures to painful winds, trying to kill them.

Society Of The Snow also showcases its setting in a brilliantly terrifying way. While the actual untouched snowscape in the middle of a mountain valley looks breathtaking, it’s anything but in this story. Seeing a group of humans stranded in the middle of such a beautiful place makes it scary and a death trap. Those scenes are gorgeous, and the score does a wonderful job of relaying a sense of terror, that much more effectively.

This Is An Oscar Nominated International Film Now

Another aspect of Society Of The Snow that is chilling (pun intended), is its use of sound. Or rather, the lack of it at key moments. There are certain scenes where the absence of sound is much more effective than any score could be. It’s all these ways that Society Of The Snow ends up being a terrifying film about survival that explores many taboo topics. The story digs into how far is too far to survive in the face of sheer death. It deals with how morality and ethics become a lower priority when death is almost a certainty. It’s not just a disaster movie, but more of a story of survival, by any means necessary.

Society Of The Snow is now streaming on Netflix.

What did you think of Society Of The Snow? Let me know in the comments below or on X (Twitter) at @theshahshahid.