We suffer through every second of Aron Ralston's harrowing ordeal.
You will probably be both silent and exhausted at the end of 127 Hours.
If the movie had been fiction, we could have watched it as melodrama -
spectators resting comfortably in our seats indulging ourselves in justifiable
skepticism. No such luck. Director Danny Boyle and actor James Franco are far
too good to let us do that. We suffer through every second of Aron Ralston's
harrowing ordeal. This is a true story filmed with great fidelity to the real
thing.
Because we
know from the beginning that Aron will become impossibly stuck between two rocks
and eventually have to cut off his own arm, we have plenty of time to try to
figure this guy out, to wonder what makes him different from most of us. There's
something in the DNA that makes some people love risk while others look for
safety in their pleasure.
We watch Aron
move casually, somewhat carelessly around his room retrieving the things he will
need for a hike in the desert - a water bottle, a camera, a camcorder, a watch,
sunglasses, a climbing rope, a snack or two. As he runs his hand over the high
closet shelf, he misses his Swiss Army knife and moves on without it. In high
anticipation of hiking through the country he loves and knows so well, he walks
past the table without leaving a note about where he's going. And he goes alone.
Three errors in five minutes.
The visual
and musical collage tells us this young man has always adored risk. He heads out
in his truck, driving deep into the desert where he leaves the truck and sets
off on his bike. For twenty miles he rides heedlessly over sand and rock trying
to break the estimated travel time. Aron is a man of good cheer. He helps two
pretty young lost hikers find their way out of their dilemma and agrees to come
to a party they are giving the next night. Taking them on a shortcut, he gives
them the thrill of their young lives by cutting through a pass where they have
to drop into a distant pool of water.
And then it
happens. As he struggles to free himself, he faces his two biggest mistakes: no
one in the world knows where he is and the only blade he has is a cheap
Christmas stocking present that won't even slice into his skin. The rest of the
film is torment not only for him, but for us. The actual amputation is prolonged
and bloody, his suffering acute. James Franco experiences Aron's agonizing hours
with great credibility.
The actor has
made us understand why Aron would, and did, go repeatedly into the country he
loves. We understand too that he will continue to look for risk and surprise in
his pleasure. Aron Ralston is an adventurer with the reckless courage of a
daredevil, and because of that courage, he survived his own carelessness.
Copyright (c) Illusion