127 Hours – Movie Review

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston 

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This is as disturbing a 94 minutes as any on film.  It’s no picnic, but Danny Boyle’s done a magnificent job of telling the true story of “canyoneer” Aron Ralston and his sojourn in the desert, arm pinned under a rock, back in 2003. 

Ralston became a pop hero and inspiration by cutting off his own arm to escape death by dehydration, starvation, and exposure, a last ditch act that saved him.  And it is one of the year’s best films.

It was to be a regular adventure day for Ralston – he’d bike ride hours to his ‘home away from home’, rock formations at the top of a Utah desert mountain range where he would explore caves and crevices and photograph nature’s remote splendor.  He had the maps and knew the lay of the land from previous experience and had the confidence of ten men. 

But he made some serious mistakes, painfully obvious in retrospect that sealed his fate.  He felt invincible and didn’t tell anyone where he was going or the dangerous things he was going to do, he didn’t take his good pocket knife and he went alone across vast miles of baking/freezing desert. 

Ralston was an experienced outdoorsman with plenty of first hand and book knowledge but no one prepares for a rock to fall on your arm while traversing a deep mountain crevice.

Boyle has a sensational story to tell and he elevates it with remarkable artistry.  A wholemovie about a climber pinned in a hole seems limiting, but it’s told in a compelling, cinematic style. 

Boyle takes us inside Ralston’s head, shows us his recollections, fears, emotional attitude, hallucinations, and sense of humor that sustained him and kept him company.  He contrasts the neon electronic vibe of Ralston’s hallucinations with the unmoving, monochromatic reality of the crevice and warm, soft -focus family scenes. 

Boyle has outdone himself skimming through a universe of real, unreal, love, fear and survival in ways that are accessible and entertaining.

But entertaining isn’t exactly the word to describe what he does to free himself from the rock and truthfully, this reviewer had to look away, but it gets us where we live. 

Reports of movie patrons collapsing in theatres showing the film are the stuff of newswires these days and while I wondered about that, the ripple effects of the cutting scenes lingered long after I left the theatre.

James Franco does a sensational job as Ralston.  Franco’s expressive, plastic face is not only made for movies, it’s made for this movie, but even so, it’s his remarkable spirit that is the key to the film’s success.  Bravado turns to fear, and hope to resignation, but love and optimism never abandon him and he seems always able to see clearly and weather the inevitable. 

Two girls (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) are onscreen with Franco for about ten minutes at the top and a few minor characters appear at the end, but it’s just Franco carrying this incredible movie. 

His tour-de-force performance must not be overlooked at awards season.  Same for Boyle, who could manage a double header after last year’s Slumdog Millionaire triumph.

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35mm drama

Written by Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy based on the book by Aron Ralston

Directed by Danny Boyle

Opens: Nov. 5

Runtime: 94

 MPAA: Rated R for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images

Country: USA

Language: English

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