Society of the Snow: A Chilling Preview

As you pass over the snow-frosted Andes, your teammate bumps your shoulder, reminding you of your turn in the card game. It's a tiny plane, but your friends have taken on a rambunctious mood as they yell and shout jokes. In Santiago, there is the promise of girls and gambling and heat, but for now, the company of your brothers isn't unappreciated.

All you see is the sky: the King of Spades and the Queen of Diamonds its rulers.

The back of the plane flees and falls down into the mountains below.

The front half’s descent is long and stomach-shaking. When you wake, half your companions and the captain lie unseeing.

Later, you hear on the radio that a search party is looking for you, but the plane is white, so the searchers can't see it in the snow that surrounds you. Days and weeks pass as rations dwindle to nothing; some of the remaining survivors begin to succumb to their injuries as starvation takes over their bodies.

You have few options; look for animals to hunt and quickly realize that animals don’t go into the mountains during the wintertime. Feast on what you can find on the plane; smokers brought suitcases full of bitter tobacco, but the bitterness overrides your hunger. Insulation and leather can't be pushed down your throat, no matter how much effort you give. You can keep searching, or…

The dead lay a mere 50 feet away from the remains of the plane, preserved by the frigid weather.

As you and your companions sit quietly snuggled in the front of the broken plane, your eyes flit back and forth from each man, trying to read each other's minds. At home, you went to church every Sunday, a cross hung proudly from your neck. Surely, just thinking of eating your past companions is a sin. Surely.

The sun rises again and again and desperation permeates the air around you. Avalanches and injury and sickness have claimed your friends, and soon, you will be next.

When the first man leaves the plane and heads towards the dead, you realize that the time to decide has run out.

Do you follow, or die?

Personally, this was one of my new favorite movies. Like most things, I had found it on Tiktok, and watched it on a boring winter night. The main character, Numa, was by far my favorite character; he exhibited this calming presence that you could practically feel through the screen. If it wasn't so interesting, I would have been lulled to sleep. I also liked that they really framed the story around the concept of survival rather than just cannibalism; I had gotten curious and Wikipedia’d the story beforehand so I already knew what was going down, but if I hadn't, I'd be clueless. Somehow, the movie dashes between each character and storyline, making you fall in love with each one and despair when one of them dies. All in all, what was really refreshing about the movie was that it didn't feel like it was catered to draw people in and seem as dramatic as possible. Every moment and every action shown on screen seemed like a plausible thing that the viewer might do if they were put in the same position. It wasn't a cash-grab money-making type of movie, but more a love-letter to the survivors of the story. There were no villains, only scared human beings.