Agenda Movie Club: 127 Hours

127 Hours

Danny Boyle

2010

You go into this movie knowing what you’re getting into, conceptually. You know it will be harrowing, difficult, all that. I mean, we know how it ends, the guy has to cut his own arm off to survive. But then, about ten minutes into the movie, the rock falls on Aron Ralston, there are bits of arm and blood all over the rock wall he’s trapped against, the title card comes up, and you realize that there’s a good hour and a half left of the movie, with just you and this guy. That’s when I thought, “Oh. Wow.”

I have no idea how he did it. We see it, but I still don’t know. I wonder how much of what we see is for cinematic purposes, and how much it reflects Ralston’s real experience. But how did he live?

The human survival instinct is shocking. I admit that I teared up just a little at the end when Ralston finally sees other people, and the helicopter comes to help him. What people can go through just to live. How did he have the wherewithal to find his way out after cutting his own arm off? How could he still function enough to lower himself down a canyon wall to drink from a stagnant pool of water? How in the world did he get that far to begin with?

Seeing his ingenuity as he tried to figure out ways to move the rock off his arm (or to sleep, or to urinate) during those five days just made me shake my head, even if none of them worked. But he sure did try everything he could before he left the arm. Again, how he kept his wits about him like that is just so far beyond my comprehension I can’t do anything but marvel.

People sure do want to live.

James Franco is pretty darned good. Probably Oscar-nomination good. I wouldn’t be the least bit upset if he gets one of the five slots. Can’t really think of anyone I’ve seen this year who’s better. He’s just right for a person who’s far too reckless and selfish in the beginning, and slowly comes to realize just how reckless and selfish he’s been. There’s a moment when Ralston decides that everything he’s done in his life has basically led to this point, with him trapped in this crack in the desert with his arm crushed against a wall. Did he really have this moment? I don’t know. Doesn’t really matter for the story whether it really happened or not. This could have been a pretty overdone part of the movie if it weren’t for the fact that we really believe he’s come to this point, having spent days in this situation with nothing but himself and his imminent death. That’s a testament to Franco and Danny Boyle.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but Boyle’s visual style was more kinetic than I expected. I guess that’s how he rolls. It definitely kept something that could have been stagnant moving along, even while it was so focused on one person. I didn’t exactly understand everything he was doing (can someone explain the significance of the triptychs he kept using?), but it could be that he was just trying to keep the movie visually interesting, which I can appreciate. I have no problem with that, in this case.

And Ralston’s visions– again, I wonder, did he actually have all of these things happen to him? As I’ve said before, in storytelling terms, I don’t really care what’s true and what’s not, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about what he experienced. I believe he probably did.

I don’t think there’s any doubt this should get serious consideration for top awards this year, but I’m really hoping that they recognize the sound team for this– the sound design is shockingly good, and every bit as important as the pictures. That part where he cut the nerve? Excruciating, and not because of how it looked. Because of how it sounded.

Boy, people sure do want to live.