Good flick

I have mentioned my sincere love for the film 127 Hours.  Sadly, I avoided seeing this movie in the cinema, because I was afraid that it would be too harrowing to handle.  I had heard about the moment when, as in the true story, Aron Ralston has to cut off his own arm with a dull multi-tool in order to save his life.  Knowing Danny Boyle to be a pretty visceral, uncompromising director, I imagined this moment would be excruciating.  I was right.  But in the context of the film, it is absolutely pitch-perfect.  Yes, it's a challenge to watch, but it is such a profound expression of some deep human experiences that are common to a lot of us, and so true to the actual event, that I recommend this film to any adult who craves a great story.

Then again, 'a great story' is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of this film.  I mean, a guy goes hiking, gets his arm trapped under a huge boulder, and slowly wastes away in a desolate canyon before finally cutting off his own arm and somehow surviving the ordeal.  It's not exactly a plot-driven narrative.  So what makes it a great story?

Three things come immediately to mind.  One, the way it expresses the delicate balance between the individual and the community is sublime.  Two, the way it subtly weaves spirituality into the harsh physical reality of the situation is brilliant.  Third, the way it retells the classic narrative of death and rebirth is simply beautiful.

1) Aron is an individualist.  He ventures out into the wild for the purpose of finding solitude.  He feels alive when he is completely self-reliant.  But his solitude becomes isolation, and his self-reliance becomes survival.  For me, the most poignant shot in the film comes near the end when a small family of foreign hikers spot Ralston in the distance, obviously in distress, and immediately run to him.  They give him all they have - water and a few Oreos - and help him survive until he can be air-lifted out of the canyon.  In the best moments of human interaction, our religious, social, ethnic, and ideological differences melt away, leaving only the compassionate core that I believe exists within each of us.  I love that part of our nature.  It's what makes community possible.

2) Call his visions what you will, but Ralston's hallucinations in the canyon provide hope and meaning in an otherwise hopeless and absurd situation.  His darkest moments are made bearable by these prescient visions, which eventually inspire him to take the action necessary to save his life.  Perhaps these phantoms were signs of a deteriorating mind, and perhaps it is only by chance that he did give birth to the son, years later, whom he had seen in the canyon the night before his escape.  Perhaps the flight of the raven was a coincidental accident.  Or perhaps something greater was involved. 

3) As in Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, the New Testament, and other great stories, 127 Hours involves the struggle, the death, and the rebirth of its hero.  Just as Gandalf must struggle with the Balrog, and even lose his life in the process, before being reborn and forever changed by the encounter, Aron Ralston's battle with his personal demons brings him to the point of accepting death, and leaves him permanently altered.  He escapes the canyon as a different man.  A new man.  In the same way, many of us have our own personal battles, our epic internal struggles which can, though not without sacrifice, be overcome.  We may be scarred, but we are better for having plumbed the depths of our experience and taken ownership of our destiny.