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The passengers -

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was carrying 40 passengers and five crew members on its journey from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile.

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The rugby team -

Nineteen of the passengers were members of the Old Christians Club amateur rugby team, while others were their friends and family.

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They had to stop overnight -

Bad weather forced the flight to stop overnight in Mendoza, Argentina. The next day, on October 13, 1972, the plane took off again.

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A lethal mistake -

When they were flying through the Andes, the co-pilot mistakenly believed the aircraft had overflown Curicó, the turning point to fly north, and began descending towards what he thought was Pudahuel Airport in Santiago de Chile.

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The crash -

Instead, the aircraft struck a mountain. Both wings broke off and the rear of the plane was torn off, taking five people with it. The fuselage slid down the side of the mountain until the front end came to a stop at an altitude of 11,710 feet (3,570 meters).

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Survivor's account -

"When the plane lost the wings and tail, it began to slide at an incredible speed," survivor Roberto Canessa (pictured), who was 19 at the time, told Time magazine. "I thought my feet were going to go through the back of my ears. So when it stopped, I couldn’t believe I was alive. It was absurd."

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How many people died in the crash? -

Twelve people died in the initial crash. Five more died the first night, and another person died about a week later from their injuries.

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The total of survivors -

Out of the 45 people aboard the plane, only 16 survived the entire ordeal, which lasted 72 days.  

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Fail to rescue -

As the movie shows, the survivors saw several rescue planes flying overhead in the days that followed, but no one searching for them was able to spot the white plane wreckage in the snow.

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Devastating news -

After about 10 days, the survivors recovered a small transistor radio from the plane and heard the devastating news that the search had been called off, and they were all presumed dead.

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Freezing temperatures -

To protect themselves from the freezing night temperatures of −22 °F (−30 °C), the survivors created a makeshift shelter out of the fuselage. (Pictured Matías Recalt as Roberto Canessa).

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Resorting to survival anthropophagy -

The survivors had very little food to eat. They found eight chocolate bars, three small jars of jam, a tin of mussels, a tin of almonds, a few dates, some candy, dried plums, and several bottles of wine. They rationed the food supply, but it lasted only a week. The survivors then resorted to cannibalism, eating the bodies of the passengers who had died. (Pictured Agustín Pardella as Nando Parrado).

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Coming to terms with it -

Canessa (pictured to the right of Parrado) told Time that he wrestled with the idea of not just eating another human, but a person he once knew. "You are eating a dead person and the person is your friend and you wonder, 'Should I do this?' Or should I let myself die?" He said, "But I have seen how mothers cry when they lose their sons and I didn't want my mother to go through that. I realized that when you have a reason for doing something, nothing stops you."

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One of the worst moments -

On October 29, 16 days after the crash, an avalanche hit and filled the plane with snow, killing eight people. Trapped inside the fuselage, the remaining survivors managed to break out, but had to return when a blizzard hit. During their time stuck in the fuselage, the survivors ate those who died in the avalanche. At that point, only 19 people remained alive. The survivors eventually managed to break out of the fuselage, but three more died later.

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How did they get out? -

As temperatures started to rise, Parrado (pictured to the right), Canessa, and Antonio "Tintin" Vizintín decided to hike through the mountain range in an attempt to get help. Vizintín returned to camp so that Canessa and Parrado would have more food rations for the longer journey. 

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Help at last -

About 10 brutal days after they initially set out, Canessa and Parrado came across a man named Sergio Catalán (pictured) who was riding a horse in Chile. Separated by a large stream, he promised to return the next day. 

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The note -

When he returned, Catalán wrapped a pencil and paper around a stone and threw to the two survivors. Parrado jotted down what had happened, prompting Catalán to take action by riding to the nearest town to inform authorities about the other survivors.

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Safety -

After realizing they were finally safe, Canessa told Time that the first thing he did was to bury the remains they had brought on the journey for food. "I looked at the rugby socks filled with the flesh of my friends and I said, 'This should be buried. This is no longer food. We are going to have real food now.' So I buried their remains."

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The rescue -

On December 22, rescue helicopters arrived at the crash site, but were only able to airlift out six of the 14 remaining survivors due to bad weather. The other eight were picked up the following day.

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Back to safety -

Pictured here is survivor Carlos Páez Rodríguez reunited with his father. Rodríguez played his own father in 'Society of the Snow.'

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'Society of the Snow' -

The Spanish feature film, directed by J. A. Bayona, premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

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It's based on a book -

The movie is an adaptation of Pablo Vierci's book of the same name. Released in 2009, the book documents the accounts of all 16 survivors of the crash, many of whom Vierci knew from childhood. 

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Background -

Bayona discovered Vierci's book while researching his 2012 film 'The Impossible.' He bought the rights for the book when he finished filming that movie. 'Society of the Snow' was announced in November 2021. 

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Interviews with the survivors -

The filmmakers recorded more than 100 hours of interviews with all the living survivors. Pictured here is director Bayona with survivor Eduardo Strauch.

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The actors -

The cast of 'Society of the Snow' is composed of Uruguayan and Argentine actors, most of whom are newcomers. 

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Survivors and cast worked together -

Survivors and families were heavily involved in the movie. The actors even had contact with them. Pictured is Enzo Vogrincic who played Numa Turcatti.

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Survivors made cameos -

A few of the survivors even made cameos in the film, including Carlos Páez Rodríguez (left), Nando Parrado (center), and Roberto Canessa (right).

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Filming locations -

Principal photography took place in the Sierra Nevada in Spain and Montevideo in Uruguay, as well as in Chile and Argentina, including the actual crash site in the Andes. Production took a total of 138 shooting days.

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An award-winning film -

Nominated for various prestigious awards, including the Golden Globes, 'Society of the Snow' is the third-most prized movie in Goya's history. It won 12 prizes including Best Picture and Best Director at the prestigious Spanish awards ceremony.

Sources: (Time) (Today) (Forbes)

See also: Inspiring movies about overcoming adversity

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