2024-01-07 18:18:03
NETFLIX “The Snow Circle” traces the tragedy of the survivors of the crash in the Andes in 1972.
NETFLIX
“Le Cercle des Neiges” traces the tragedy of the survivors of the crash in the Andes in 1972.
NETFLIX – To survive, they had to do the unthinkable. On October 13, 1972, Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya flight 571 crashed in the Andes mountain range with 45 people on board. More than two months later, 16 survivors of the plane crash were miraculously saved thanks to the expedition led by two of them, Fernando Parado and Roberto Canessa. This true story which made headlines around the world has been adapted several times. The film The Snow Circle by Juan Antonio Bayona, online on Netflix since January 4, is in the shortlist for the Oscar for best foreign film.
During their weeks of agony in the snowy mountain, players from Montevideo’s Old Christians rugby team had to resort to eating the bodies of dead passengers to survive. The feature film offers poignant realism, but without ever falling into pathos. And for good reason, the director was supported in his project by Fernando Parado, one of the survivors of the theft, who Le HuffPost was able to meet.
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When asked why he agrees, more than 50 years following the tragedy, to continue talking regarding it, “Nando” is categorical. “ I don’t feel the need to share my story, but I keep getting asked. It’s engraved in my flesh, I am a survivor. You only live once, and because of this tragedy, I decided that the 2nd part of my life was going to be memorable. And being part of this project was exciting. »
Fernando Parado also agreed to work with Juan Antonio Bayona to give his story another visibility. “ This story still fascinates because it is unimaginable today. This might no longer happen with cell phones and GPS. And it’s almost surreal. We shouldn’t have survived and yet we survived 72 days. There is of course the moral aspect, people wonder how they would have reacted in this situation, hoping to never be confronted with it.. With the images, we can try to explain to them. Surviving a tragedy like this doesn’t make you the smartest person on the planet, or a monster. Just a survivor. »
Kristy Sparow / FilmMagic Three survivors of Flight 571 Carlos Páez Rodríguez, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa on the red carpet of the film “The Ring of Snow” at the 80th Venice Film Festival in September 2023.
Kristy Sparow / FilmMagic
Three survivors of Flight 571 Carlos Páez Rodríguez, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa on the red carpet of the film “The Ring of Snow” at the 80th Venice Film Festival in September 2023.
Nando wants to break the myth of adventure
The Snow Circle is not the first film that traces this story. But for Fernando Parado it is a different project, because he does not present his story as an epic or romantic adventure. “ Looking death in the face so many times is not an adventure. Bayona understood this perfectly. We have all been heroes despite ourselves. Those who did not return and those who returned. It was destiny and just destiny that decided. All my friends who died, at one point, believed they were going to survive. And all of us who survived, at some point, were certain we were going to die. »
The realism (sometimes brutal for the viewer) of Juan Antonio Bayona’s images was a real shock for the survivor when he saw the film. “ The sound of crunching snow, the sound of the wind, the brightness. For the first time in years I was overcome by the feelings I had felt at the time. And it shocked me.” The film is deliberately very immersive. A way for the director to translate the violence of the situation, which Nando found “ The film is fair. There, we didn’t survive, we died. Every moment. Your body, your muscles fight, you hurt and you die fighting once morest cold, hunger and thirst. »
Netflix’s “The Ring of Snow” illustrates how Fernando Parado and Roberto Canessa trained to carry out the rescue expedition.
Netflix
“The Circle of Snow” illustrates how Fernando Parado and Roberto Canessa trained to carry out the rescue expedition.
A film that redefines fear and hope
That The Snow Circle also highlights is the diversity of reactions to the imminence of this death. Some fell into despair or denial, others turned to faith. Nando chose to act. “ The minute I heard on the radio that the search had stopped, I started looking for a way out and it became an obsession. I didn’t want to die, I wanted to find my father, to hold him in my arms. I was starving and very weak. But I just knew I didn’t want to ‘wait and see’. I wanted to move forward even if it seemed impossible. If you are thrown into the ocean with nothing around, you start swimming, even if you don’t know where to go. »
When told that the portrayal of him in the film is brave, Nando only half-confirms. “ Even now, 51 years later, I wonder why I made these decisions. I’m told it was very courageous. The truth is that I was very afraid. And that fear increased my courage tenfold. But I was terrified in a way you can’t imagine ».
Netflix Agustín Pardella (with the red hat) plays Nando in “The Circle of Snows”.
Netflix
Agustín Pardella (with the red cap) plays Nando in “The Circle of Snows”.
What pushed him to train every day, to attempt several expeditions in the snowy mountain, to agree to consume the flesh of his dead comrades, and to offer his own in return? Not hope. “ Hope is a word we overuse there. We hoped that help would arrive. We hoped to be spotted. We hoped that the climbers would find help. But hope is dangerous, it pushes us to wait to see what destiny has in store for us. I always prayed for help to arrive, but chose to do something in the meantime. We had to stop lying to ourselves. We were dying. If we had just hoped, nothing would have happened. »
Fernando Parado returned to the crash site 11 times to pay tribute to his mother and sister who died in the tragedy. The only souvenir image he keeps is a photo taken with his wife and daughters during his last trip in 2007, in this place where he is “ born a second time ».
The Snow Circle by Juan Antonio Bayona has been available on Netflix since January 4.
Also see on Le HuffPost :
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