Screen_Blitz Disasters are part of our nature, but what comes of a disaster is a test to your willpower to survive, and sometimes maybe your faith. When a miracle occurs following the wake of a tragic event, a story almost always must be told. The courage and hardships of the Uruguayan rugby team in 1972 in the face of an ill-fated airline disaster is explicitly demonstrated here in this biographical adventure directed by Frank Marshall who is normally seen in the producer's chair for works by Touchstone. This film was set for development by Disney in the early 80s. But as Disney sparked disapproval for violent content in films, it wasn't until the founding of the Touchstone division to allow films of the lesser family-friendly. After all, the gruesome disaster images and occasionally earned the R-rating here. Based on true events involving bravery, determination, and survival; the film focuses on the 1972 Uruguayan Rubgy team along with some family members on a plane ride as they travel to Chile for a championship game. But when they reach through the Andes mountains, it's not long before the weather gets ugly and blizzards began arriving. Soon, the storm takes a toll on them when their plane crashes and shatters into the snowy fields of the Andes mountain range, killing several passengers. With scarce food supply and no available radio signal, the survivors are force to take extreme measures including cannibalism to survive the blistering subzero conditions until help arrives.Featuring a large ensemble cast of Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton, Bruce Ramsey, John Newton, David Kriegal, Kevin Breznahan, Sam Renhans, Illeana Douglas, Jack Noseworthy, Christian J. Neoli, Jake Carpenter, Michael DeLorenzo, Jose Zinuga, and a few others; the tense, survival adventure pulls no almost punches when depicting the horrifying disaster followed by the aftermath the team must endure. Powerfully capturing the fateful events on both a technical and narrative level, the film showcases a harrowing portrayal of the tragedy to left the rugby team and their family members fighting vigorously for their survival but questioning their spirituality. Following a solid narration from John Malvoich in the opening scene, viewers reach the film's highest point of intensity in one of the most graphic and authentic plane crash scenes ever encountered on film, with the half of the plane tearing to pieces and passengers sucked off-board, tossed around, and cut by debris resulting in their bloody injuries (or deaths). And after his heart-racing scene, the tension doesn't stop there. The story captures the punishing fight for survival with vast detail, exploring through gritty character studies including their distasteful experience of resourcing to using the dead as food, the physical brutality of the blistering cold temperatures, and the test of their faith. Contrary to many faith-based flicks, the film does a nice job as executing the religious aspect of the story effectively without making it heavy-handed or manipulative. But the movie's most powerful caliber lies in the emotional investment incorporated in the story. From the bonding between the team- turned family and their will to make it out alive hits hard and ignites a strong emotional core.Alive is a deeply moving tale of survival brought together by the ingenious efforts by director Frank Marshall. Blossoming with arresting performances, an inspiring screenplay, and a powerful message about surviving through harsh circumstances; this movie is a profound story that well deserved your attention, even if it the physical (and emotional) intensity packs a punch to your gut.

Dan Harden Alive is an immensely horrific true story that had the potential to become an amazing film. This film is not that amazing film. It does alright, its good but could have been told in a different, and in my opinion, a much better way.The acting was a balance, it was good at times but terrible at other points, lines were delivered rather unenthusiastically or annoyingly overly dramatic by many, but there is also some good acting thrown in, most notably from Ethan Hawke who luckily becomes stronger and more involved as the film proceeds.The way in which the cannibalism issue was handled was impressive, and I would suspect was also realistic. The first time is obviously the worst, morals are questioned as the team make what is a very, very difficult choice to make that was conveyed extremely well in this film. But after the first time it becomes much easier and even casual to some characters which I would believe to be true.My problem with this film was it's tone. The story is about a group of friends and relatives whose plane crashes, killing some while the extreme weather conditions of the Andes slowly kills the others, and how the survivors had to resort to eating their loved ones to stay alive. This is a very dark, disturbing and traumatic true event and I was hoping would spawn a similarly gritty drama that I feel would have more accurately reflected the experience of the rugby team. I found this film to contain a large amount of 90's cheese and to find Disney in the credits probably explains that. The tone and story didn't go together at all, the cheesy film of a nightmarish event is the on screen equivalent of mixing oil with water in my opinion.Overall Alive is an alright film, it tells the story quite well it just has the wrong tone and feel for the most part. I would be very interested to see this film remade, as it is a tremendous event and I believe given a much darker tone, could give life to the film that I believe this true story deserves.

nishantu Awesome is the word.You could feel what those survivors would have gone through when all of this happened to them.I read few reviews from critics where all they talk about are the flaws of signal failures and what not.Well- this is what happened and these people survived for so long.Great screenplay ,awesome direction ,even the music of the movie gives you hope.Alive leaves a lot to imagination but there is only so much you can do with the run time you get for a movie to be released in theaters.Alive might now work in today's day and age and some would rate it as slow and dull but not for me.I wont say its a master piece but its not "kill your time" movies. When you watch it you can't help but wonder what you would do in their situation?

g-bodyl Alive is an emotional harrowing film based off the real-life event of the fatal plane crash in the Andes Mountains which stranded sixteen survivors for 72 days. This film may have some issues (mainly involving editing and a little script issue), but there is no denying the personal affection we feel for the characters as they struggle to survive. For a 1993 film, this film has some good special effects as the plane crash was very convincing.Frank Marshall's film is about the fore-mentioned crash in the Andes and it talks about how these men survived in the harsh winter environment with nothing but chocolate and wine. Later on, the film goes on to mention the last resort effort in cannibalism to stay alive, which is really hard to watch even though this is what saved their lives.For a film that doesn't have a big-name cast, the acting was really good and they all added depth to their characters. The only familiar names are Ethan Hawke and Vincent Spano. I really valued Hawke's character, Nando because of his bravery as he went out to find civilization.Overall, Alive is a movie that does the unthinkable and effectively tells an unfilmable event into a harrowing, emotional story. This film has one of the best endings you'll ever see in film, and it will be difficult to hold back the tears while Aaron Neville's "Ave Maria," is performing. This film has great characterization and it's as if we went through the terrible ordeal with them. I rate this film 9/10.