‘If we die… we’re gonna die walking…’
Cannibalism is all the rage right now following the runaway success of Yellowjackets. Considering that show’s ’90s setting and aesthetic, it’s impossible to ignore comparisons with 1993’s Alive. Both feature a plane crash. Both feature an ensemble cast. Both feature cannibalism. Bon appetite!
Alive is the gruelling true story of a group of Uruguayan rugby players (almost exclusively played by very pale Americans here) who crashland in the snowswept Andes and have to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. Ethan Hawke and John Hamilton head up a talented cast.
Director Frank Marshall should probably have been put to death for unleashing Arachnophobia on the world – a film that makes me feel ill just thinking about it – but he was inexplicably allowed to live. And I suppose that’s for the best because Alive is a captivating and compelling survival story that feels both epic in scope but also intensely personal. Filming on location in the mountains of British Columbia allows for sweeping vistas and scenes of real tension and peril and the reliance on practical effects ensures that Alive has a timeless feel. The gritty realism and washed-out colour palette bring to mind the taut thrillers of the ’70s rather than the bombastic action movies of the ’90s and yet Alive feels classic rather than old-fashioned.
Marshall’s film was a hit at the box office but critics complained about the lack of nuance and tendency for sentimentality but I thoroughly enjoyed Alive. An incredible story told well.