Horrific true story behind Netflix's 'most harrowing' new cannibal movie
A new and highly regarded film which has just arrived on Netflix tells one of the most incredible, horrific and harrowing true stories.
Society of the Snow covers the real life story of the Andes flight disaster where a plane carrying 45 people crashed into mountains.
The film has been praised by critics and viewers alike, though their verdicts make it clear that it's not an easy watch as it depicts what really happened to the survivors of the plane crash.
Advert
Those who've seen Society of the Snow have said it's 'one of the most harrowing and incredible' things they've watched.
That's because it contains the details of the true story which happened over 50 years ago, which started on 13 October, 1972 when a flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile crashed in the Andes mountain range.
The plane was carrying five crew members and 40 passengers, including members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with friends, family and supporters.
Poor weather conditions contributed to the pilot of the plane mistakenly believing he had become lost and overshot his flight path.
He had not, and by changing course, he then ended up in the wrong place and attempted to descend in preparation for a landing, not realising he was still flying through the Andes and headed for a mountain.
Air traffic control then lost contact with the plane, which struck a mountain at around 3:30pm local time, losing its wings and the tail cone in the impact.
Three crew members and nine passengers died in the crash, and rescue efforts initially started looking in the wrong place because the plane's final known location was incorrect before the search moved to the Andes.
The survivors of the crash later said that they saw several planes, but the white plane against a snowy mountain side was difficult to spot and after eight days of searching official efforts were called off.
Food supplies on board the plane were also not enough to sustain the survivors for a long period of time, and they were largely confectionery and wine.
After the first week, the plane's food supplies had all but run out and it was then that the crash survivors discussed what they would eat to survive.
In the end, they resorted to cannibalism to survive, and several other survivors died in the following weeks due to their injuries or because of an avalanche which struck the crash site.
Learning over a transistor radio that the search for them had been called off, the remaining survivors whose numbers had dropped to 16 sent groups out to search for a way off the mountain and back to civilisation.
Some of the survivors were given extra food and time to prepare for their journey, and on 15 November, one group set out to find the broken off tail section of the plane.
They were able to recover food, clothes and medicine from the wreckage, and while they found the aircraft's batteries, they were too large to carry.
A plan was instead made to head back to the plane and bring the aircraft's radio so they could call for help, but they discovered that the plane's radio used a different power source and after several days, they gave up.
Hearing over the transistor radio that the search for them had resumed, they resolved to leave the plane wreckage to get help and climb over the mountains.
On 12 December, three of the survivors set off and after several days of trekking, they started to discover signs of life.
On 20 December, they saw three men on horseback on the other side of a river, and they were able to tell them about the plane crash.
Helicopters reached the crash site on 22 December, and the last of the survivors was evacuated off the mountain a day later.
In the end, 16 of the 45 who were on board the plane survived, and those who made it said they felt 'terrible' about resorting to cannibalism but it was that or starvation.
Society of the Snow is available to stream now on Netflix.
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film
Joe Harker