127 Hours

Plot

Mountaineer and adventurer Aron Ralston begins hiking at Utah ‘s Canyonlands National Park . On foot, he befriends hikers and Kristi Megan, and shows them an underground pool. After swimming, Aron parts ways with the hikers, and continues through a slot canyon in Blue John Canyon . While climbing down, he slips and falls, knocking a boulder which smashes his right hand and wrist against the wall. Stuck, he is alone. He begins recording a video diaryto maintain morality, chipping away parts of the boulder and keeping warm at night. He rations his food and water, in order to survive the ordeal. He sets up a pulley using his climbing rope in a futile attempt to lift the boulder.

Days after being trapped, Ralston considers using his pocket knife to cut bone. With no water, he is forced to drink his urine . His videos have become desperate and depressed and he has hallucinates about escape, relationships, and past experiences of a lover, family, and Kristi and Megan. During one of the hallucinations, he realizes that he did not know where he was going. He thinks that it was destiny that the boulder trapped him.

Using his knowledge of applying torque , Ralston fashions a crude turnstile out of CamelBak tube insulation and uses a carabiner to tighten it. He then slowly amputates his arm successfully. He wraps the stump of his arm to prevent exsanguination and takes a picture of the boulder. Then he recalls down 65-foot rockface using His other arm and drinks rainwater from a small pond. He meets a family on a day hike, who alerts the authorities to Ralston’s presence, and a Utah Highway Patrol Helicopter, so dispatched, arrives to bring him to a hospital.

The epilogue sequence reveals that he got married and started a family; he continues to be a climber and canyoneer, and he now leaves a note where he has gone.

Cast

• James Franco as Aron Ralston
• Kate Mara and Kristi Moore
• Amber Tamblyn as Megan McBride
• Clemence Poesy as Rana, Aron Ralston’s lover
• Lizzy Caplan and Sonja Ralston, Aron’s sister
• Kate Burton and Donna Ralston, Aron’s mother
• Treat Williams as Larry Ralston, Aron’s father

Aron Ralston , and his wife and his make-up appearances at the end of the film.

Authenticity

Inaccuracies

The scenes early in the movie of Ralston’s encounter with the two hikers were altered to portray Ralston showing them a hidden pool, when in reality he just showed them some basic climbing moves. Despite these changes, which he was initially uncomfortable, Ralston says the rest of the film is “so factually accurate, it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama.” ^[4]

Other changes from the book include omissions of descriptions of Ralston’s efforts after freeing himself: his bike was chained to itself, not to the tree as depicted at the beginning of the movie; he had to decide where to seek the fastest medical attention; he took a photo of himself at the small brown pool from which he really did drink; he had his first bowel movement of the week; he had a long history of confinement; he got lost in a side canyon; and he puts a family from the Netherlands (not an American family), Eric, Monique and Andy Meijer Who Knew That He Was already probably lost in the area, thanks to the searches de son Parents and the autorités. (The actor who plays Eric Meijer, Pieter Jan Brugge , is Dutch.)

Accuracies

Franco is never shown uttering even an “Ow”; Ralston wrote that this is accurate. ^[5]

Ralston did send Monique and Andy to run ahead to get help, and Ralston did walk seven miles before the helicopter cam, ^[6] but this trek is shown in the movie’s alternative ending. ^{[ quote needed ]}

Production

Danny Boyle had been wanting to make a film about Ralston’s ordeal for four years; ^[7] he wrote a film treatment and Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay. ^[8] Boyle describes 127 Hours as “an action movie with a guy who can not move.” ^[9] He aussi Expressed year interest for a more intimate movie than His previous film, Slumdog Millionaire (2008): “I remember thinking, I must do a movie Where I follow an actor the way Aronofsky DID with The Wrestler .So 127 Hours is my version of that. ” ^[10]

Boyle and Fox Searchlight announced plans to create 127 Hours in November 2009, ^[11] and News of the World reported that Cillian Murphy was Boyle’s best choice Ralston. ^[12] In January 2010, James Franco was cast as Ralston. ^[13] In March 2010, filming began in Utah; ^[14] Boyle intended to shoot the first part of the film with no dialogue. ^[7] By 17 June 2010, the film was in post-production. ^[15]

Boyle made the very unusual move of hiring two Cinematographers to work-first unit, Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak contents, each of Whom shot 50 percent of the movie by trading off with Each Other. This allowed Boyle and Franco to work long days without wearing the crew. ^[16]

Boyle enlisted designer makeup effects Tony Gardner and his effects company, Alterian, Inc., to re-create the character’s amputation of his own arm. Boyle stressed that the realism of the process and the process was also important to the audience’s investing in the character’s experience, and that the makeup effects would succeed the film’s success. The false arm rigs were created in layers, from fiberglass and steel bone, through silicone and fibrous muscle and tendon, to functional veins and arteries, and finally skinned with a translucent silicone layer of skin with a thin layer of subcutaneous silicone fat. Gardner states that the effects of work were extremely stressful, so he wanted to do justice to the story; he credits James Franco with the success of the effects work. ^{[ quote needed ]}Three prosthetics have been used in all, with two of the following. ^[17] Franco would later note that the blood was difficult and the symptoms were genuine. ^[17]

The film was made to be a lot of physical, and Danny knew it was going to be a lot of pain. how far could you push it? ‘ … I had plenty of scars … Not only am I feeling physical bread, but I’m getting exhausted. ^[18]

Release

127 Hours was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2010, following its premiere at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival . ^[19] The film was selected to close the 2010 London Film Festival on October 28, 2010. ^[20] It was given a limited release in the United States on November 5, 2010. ^[21] It was released in the United Kingdom on January 7 2011, and in India on 26 January 2011. ^[22] [23]

There were many published reports (not all confirmed) that the trailer and movie made audience members ill. The Huffington Post , in November 2010, wrote that it “has gotten hearings fainting, vomiting and worse in numbers unseen since The Exorcist – and the movie has not even hit theaters yet.” ^[24] During the screenings at the Telluride Film Festival, two people required medical attention. At the first screening, an audience member became lightheaded and was taken out of the screening on a gurney . During a subsequent screening, another viewer suffered a panic attack. ^[25] Similar reactions were reported at the Toronto International Film Festival ^[26]and a special screening hosted by Pixar and Lee Unkrich , director of Toy Story 3 (2010). ^[27] The Movieline website published “Armed and Dangerous: A Comprehensive Timeline of Everyone Who’s Fainted (Or Worse) at 127 Hours .” ^[28]

Reception

127 Hours received universal acclaim from critics, with general praise directed towards Franco’s performance. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 93% of 218 professional critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 8.3 out of 10. ^[29] The site’s consensus is: “As gut-wrenching as it is inspirational, 127 Hours unites one of Danny Boyle’s most beautiful exuberant directorial efforts with a terrific performance from James Franco. ” ^[29] On Metacritic , qui assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from movie critics, the movie: has a rating score of 82% is based 38 reviews. ^[30]

Writing for DVD Talk , Casey Burchby concludes that ” 127 Hours will not necessarily be a story of survival, but a story of a harrowing interior experience”. ^[31] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the movie four stars, said he believed Franco’s Oscar nomination for his performance, and called the film “one of the best of the decade.” Roger Ebert also awarded the film for four stars and wrote that ” 127 Hours is a conquering film”. ^[32] Gazelle Emami wrote for The Huffington Post ,describing Franco’s performance as “mesmerizing” and “incredible.” ^[33]

Accolades

127 Hours was nominated for the Golden Globe Awards , Best Actor , Best Screenplay and Best Original Score . ^[34]

The film was nominated for nine British Academy Film Awards , including Outstanding British Film , Best Direction , Best Actor in a Leading Role , Best Screenplay Adaptation , Best Cinematography , Best Editing , and Best Film Music . ^[35]

The film got six nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Actor , Best Screened Adaptation , Best Original Score , Best Original Song , and Best Movie Editing . ^[36]

It has also been nominated for eight Broadcast Film Critics Association , including Best Film , Best Director , Best Actor , Best Screenplay Adaptation , Best Cinematography , Best Editing , Best Song , and Best Sound . ^[37] Its main theme song ” If I Rise ” won the Critics Choice award for Best Song. ^[38]

James Franco was awarded Best Actor by the New York Film Critics Online and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association . ^[39] [40]

Soundtrack

See also

• Gerry (2002), a film directed by Gus Van Sant , inspired by the death of David Coughlin
• Survival movie

References