127 Hours

James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn

Dir. Danny Boyle
Scr. Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy (based on “Between a Rock & a Hard Place” by Aron Ralston)

This movie is less a film about some guy who got trapped, and more an experience. And a gut-wrenching one at that. James Franco does a stellar job in carrying this film and Danny Boyle truly takes us on an emotional and often uncomfortable journey. This is daring film-making at its best.

127 Hours dramatises the true life story of Aron Ralston (Franco), a gung-ho adventurer who, while canyoneering in Utah, becomes trapped by a falling rock. Pinned by his right arm, Aron uses all his boy-scout powers to try and free himself, spending a total of 127 hours with very little water or food and unsure of whether he will survive. Through hallucinations, flash-backs and recordings Aron makes on his trusty camcorder, we get a picture of a man and his life and his regrets. In the end, he does what you might think impossible – breaks and cuts his own arm off in order to get free.

I cannot begin to imagine what Aron’s real life experience was actually like, but the real Ralston was heavily involved in this production and has said that the film was so factually accurate that it’s as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama. It’s reassuring that Boyle and co have not taken too many liberties. And testament to Ralston’s actual experience that this film keeps you riveted for the entire journey. Basically, after all, we’re watching a man stuck in a cave. And, for me, this is in no small part due to Franco’s performance, which is truly deserving of his Oscar nomination. Franco has always struck me as a bit of a lightweight, good at stoner dude roles. And because he is unassuming in this way, his performance really does take you by surprise. Which is just as well – without a strong lead, this film would have been simply unwatchable.

As it is, there were five minutes that, for me, were truly unwatchable. That particular five minutes (which in reality must have taken much longer), when Ralston breaks his arm, twice, and then basically saws through it with a very blunt and ineffective multi-tool blade, was truly gruesome. This has turned many cinema-goers off. Which is fair enough. But Boyle could not shy away from this scene. It signifies the lengths Ralston is prepared to go in order to live. And when Ralston finally pulls away from that rock, what we feel is not repulsion or shock or pity, it’s overwhelmingly a feeling of relief and joy.

Boyle’s direction is intimate and claustrophobic and expansive, all at once. It’s frantic and exuberant and poignant. He cleverly uses music and images of crowds of people to set us up for what is a lonely, silent tale. I’m thankful this film was in his hands – there are few that would handle it as well as he did. In fact, there are few that would take it on in the first place.

This is not a film for the faint-hearted. You know who you are – usually I am one of you! But, if you can, see this film. It’s about the triumph of the human spirit and, in these tough times (particularly in my part of the world), what better subject matter is there?

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Aron: Hey there, Aron! Is it true that you didn't tell anyone where you were going?