127 Hours Movie Review

Last week I had planned to hike with one of the sheriff’s deputies in the SAR unit, but that fell through because of a conflict that came up for the deputy. This worked out well for me because I was feeling pretty crappy with a cold. While I probably should have stayed in bed at home, I decided to venture to the movie theater to see the movie 127 Hours, about Aron Ralston getting trapped by a boulder in Blue John Canyon in Canyon lands.

I had not read Ralston’s book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place but I was familiar with the story and had seen the trailers. I was a bit skeptical about the movie initially, but a friend saw the movie and told me that it was done along the lines of, “Touching the Void” which was in-line with the book.

The movie moves along in character development reasonably quickly and has some beautiful cinematography of the canyon lands. I eventually found myself waiting for the big event. Like the iceberg in Titanic, you know it’s coming and it is what happens afterward when the interesting part of the story begins. Once the boulder falls and Aron is trapped, the movie (director, Danny Boyle and actor, James Franco) do a great job of conveying the shock, disbelief, fear and ultimately realization of situation.

One thing I did not realize but mentioned in the movie, was that Aron was a volunteer with Search and Rescue. They touch on this quite briefly, but it spoke volumes to me that he had a feeling that while being part of SAR he felt he could handle any situation by himself. To me, this was a great message for SAR folks, “It can happen to you.”

There was a scene where Aron wraps webbing around his neck and covers his head which I took as an initial plan to hang himself, but I later read an article in Outside Magazine where he used the webbing as a neck warmer and the rope around his arms like a blanket.

The movie continues through the various emotional roller coaster feelings he experiences to his ultimate realization of the solution to the problem and ultimate self-rescue (at least until he found someone).

One thing about the movie I found a bit uncomfortable was that there are several very quiet parts and I became aware of my popcorn munching. My apologies to the two ladies who sat in front of me at the theater. It was probably a bit distracting to be munching popcorn while the main character is cutting off his arm.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and got a chance to think about what I would do in a similar situation realizing I’d have no idea. But I do plan to always leave a note on the kitchen counter to where I was going. Theater or DVD, this was a good movie with great cinematography and a good story.