Alive (1993)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Frank Marshall

Writers (WGA):

Piers Paul Read (book)
John Patrick Shanley (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 January 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | Thriller

Tagline:

They survived the impossible...by doing the unthinkable.

Plot:

Uruguayan rugby team stranded in the snow swept Andes are forced to use desperate measures to survive after a plane crash.

Plot Keywords:

Rugby | Rugby Team | Mountain | Stranded | Snow

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Ethan Hawke	...	Nando Parrado
Vincent Spano	...	Antonio Balbi
Josh Hamilton	...	Roberto Canessa
Bruce Ramsay	...	Carlitos Páez
John Newton	...	Antonio 'Tintín' Vizintín (as John Haymes Newton)
David Kriegel	...	Gustavo Zerbino
Kevin Breznahan	...	Roy Harley
Sam Behrens	...	Javier Methol
Illeana Douglas	...	Lilliana Methol
Jack Noseworthy	...	Bobby François
Christian J. Meoli	...	Federico Aranda
Jake Carpenter	...	Alberto Artuna
Michael DeLorenzo	...	Rafael Cano (as Michael De Lorenzo)
José Zúñiga	...	Fraga, the Mechanic
Danny Nucci	...	Hugo Díaz

Also Known As:

Alive: The Miracle of the Andes
¡Viven! (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Les survivants (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Életben maradtak (Hungary) [hu]
Überleben! (Germany) [de]
Alive (Finland) (DVD title) [fi]
Alive - 20 år efter miraklet i Anderna (Sweden) [sv]
Alive - Dramat w Andach (Poland) [pl]
Alive - Sopravvissuti (Italy) [it]
Elossa! (Finland) (video title) [fi]
Estamos Vivos (Portugal) [pt]
Leich'yot (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Oi epizisantes (Greece) [el]
Vi lever (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Vivos (Brazil) [pt]
Zivi (Slovenia) [sl]

MPAA:

Rated R for crash scenes too intense for unaccompanied children.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | South Korea:15 | USA:R (Certificate #32112) | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Film Andes S.A.

Trivia:

The crash sequence took nine days to film. As the set was mounted on a huge gimbel, most of the cast were taking motion sickness pills as they spent a large amount of time being tossed about.

Goofs:

Continuity: The day after the avalanche, when one of the boys goes outside through the cabin there is a blizzard there, no sun is visible and he makes just a small hole in a thick layer of snow. But when he returns to the others, bright light shines through the cabin window and casts shadows on walls as if the cabin is open and in broad daylight. A similar scene with another boy is repeated the next day.

Quotes:

Narrator: And so we were saved. Nando and Canessa breached the Andes and we were saved. Later a group went back and buried the bodies. They built a rough stone altar by the grave and on top of it, they placed an iron cross. There's nothing more I can tell you. We were brought together by a grand experience.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Fear of Flying (#6.11)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Excellent Film!!!

Alive is a great movie experience. It is based on a true event in 1972 and on the narrative book by Piers Paul Read. It's about a Uraguayan college rugby team whose chartered airplane crashed deep in the icy Andes Mountains while on its way to a game in Santiago, Chile. Reeling with disbelief and shock and bleeding from dozens of wounds, the passengers who lived through the crash are faced with the brutal elements, starvation and the horror that they may never be found alive. The cast is terrific: Ethan Hawke as Nando, the levelheaded, determined leader; Vincent Spano as desperate Antonio, whose optimism slowly crumbles under the weight of hopelessness; Josh Hamilton as medical student Roberto, who tirelessly treats gangrenous wounds knowing his ministrations are useless; and especially Bruce Ramsay as Carlitos, whose unwavering faith in God and his sense of dark humor ("If you eat me, will you promise to clean your plates?") acts as the glue that holds this wet, shivering clump of survivors together. You indeed can feel the cold and the misery as you watch these poor people wade through waist deep snow, endure a nightmarish avalanche, spend days at a time soaked to their skins in minus forty degree winds, and face the ultimate decision that will make or break them physically, emotionally and spiritually: whether or not they can bring themselves to eat the bodies of friends and relatives who did not survive the crash. Everything in this movie, from James Newton Howard's touching music score to the unbeatable cinematography showing the majesty and severity of the Andes, is beautiful and flawless. This movie is one I'd recommend to anyone who wants an exciting, touching, unforgettable movie to chew on for years to come.