Society of the Snow: Uruguayan survivor speaks out on Netflix version of 1972 crash

Netflix Society of the Snow is a true story based on the Uruguayan flight crash in 1972. It is a compilation of hostile events in one of the world’s harshest environments.

Directed by J.A. Bayona, who also directed masterpieces like The Orphanage and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the film aimed to tell viewers about the real events following the crash.

The story revolves around the infamous Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crash in 1972.

It offered an insight into the lives of those who survived the crash despite starvation and extreme weather conditions while being trapped on a remote glacier in the Andes Mountains.

Speaking exclusively to TIME, one of the survivors Roberto Canessa, who was 19 at the time, revealed that while he watched Bayona’s films The Impossible and When a Monster Calls, he felt that the director had “a unique talent for making movies about humans under maximum stress.”

Canessa also said that he had to share his experience with the world since it was extraordinary.

He said: "This is more than a movie. This is an experience we had to share with humanity to show people who are having their mountain crashes how to be resourceful and how not to give up."

“Human beings undergo a transformation in cases like this. There is a real metamorphosis from being a rugby player to becoming a survivor of a plane crash. I believe people have that potential,” he added.

Society of the Snow released on December 22, 2023, on the streaming giant.

Although the story of the 1972 flight crash graced screens long before the 2023 film's release, this is the first time that survivors allowed for their real names to be used in the film.