Two movies tell the same tragic tale 30 years apart.
What, if anything, do they have in common?
This article containsSociety of the Snowspoilers.
Newly arrived on Netflix after a brief theatrical run, is director and co-writerJ.A.
BayonasSociety of the Snow.
The story of how the survivors stayed alive made headlines around the world when it first broke.
Carlitos offers a few words at the beginning and end of the story.
Its a fairly pointless exercise that adds nothing of substance to the narrative.
Malkovich even literally says, I have nothing more to say at the end of the film.
Society of the Snowhas a more poetic framing equipment, but one that arguably makes even less sense.
Some details are altered or compressed along the way, but the main narrative is the same.
And honestly, this choice is at odds with the material.
Its also better directed than Marshalls version of the Flight 571 story.
More moodily shot and scored by Michael Giacchino,Societyis technically and perhaps emotionally more powerful.
Bayonas film course corrects this in a big way.
This adds a tremendous amount of verisimilitude to the film.
Its harder to swallow Hawke in the main role, for instance.
This blunts the emotional connection we may feel to them.
Neither film solves this problem, and it remains the biggest flaw of both.
The aftermath of the crash is handled slightly differently too.
This is mostly a group of devoutly religious people.
But bothAliveandSocietyshy away from the reality of the act almost too much.
He hesitates before putting it in his mouth, but eventually begins to eat as others join him.
The same sequence is shot with a little more distance inSociety.
Do we need to see the gruesome reality of eating dead human bodies?
But thats why dramatizing this story is an almost impossible decision.
The shot almost comes and goes before you realize what youre looking at.
What do we do with all this?
one of them asks.
There is no answer.
The Ending and Aftermath
SocietyandAliveend very differently.
In the end, neitherAlivenorSociety of the Snowis completely successful as a film.
Did he simply want to recast it accurately?
Was it supposed to delve deeper into the dynamics of the survivors?
Society of the Snowis now streaming on Netflix.
