Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains

‘Stranded’ looks at survival, death
ACTUAL SURVIVORS in 1972 of the crash which became the documentar, "Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains."

VIDEO VIPER IN WEEKENDER for Nov. 27, 2009

The tagline to this film is: Could you eat human flesh to survive?

Surprisingly, this isn’t a horror move. Under the cumbersome name title “Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains,” it’s a documentary about those who survived the 1972 Andes plane crash.

The film was put together by Gonzalo Arijon, a neighbor and friend of some of the survivors.

This film tells in fairly graphic detail what it was like to live for months in the cold, with minimal food and the dead and dying all about them.

My only complaint is the film goes on too long, more than two hours.

The filmmaker had his challenges. About the only real media he had to work with was one photograph taken on the plane in flight, another of the rear of the crashed aircraft, bleak and frozen.

The rest is recreations of events using actors, as well as footage of the survivors today.

Still, he is able to paint a white-knuckled story of death and survival.

They were young, sports-minded Uruguayan rugby players who climbed on a plane, laughing, throwing a ball about, having a good time. They were 19 and naive.

But a terrible storm over the Andes changed all of that. It crashed with 45 aboard, breaking in two.

Survivors talk about the dead bodies surrounding them and the soon-to-be dead. They talk about people dying in their arms.

They talked about search planes overhead that looked in vain for the wreckage. The plane was situated in such a way, it was impossible to spot.

The fact that anyone survived at all is a miracle. What helped them to survive became sensationalistic, but is treated with subtlety and decorum.

Arijon spent hours interviewing each survive, asking probing questions.

The days drifted by. Hunger subsided. Going outside took a great deal of effort.

It seemed whatever they did brought new adversities, from setting off to find help to eating the flesh of those who died.

And the survivors do go into some detail. They discussed the possibility of eating the dead. They knew they needed sustenance to live, to attempt to find help.

First, they made certain they didn’t know which of the deceased they were consuming. They talked of retching when they took a bit of flesh.

We hear about how they sat around and gave each other permission to consume their flesh to sustain life if some survivors should die.

The eating of the flesh was done with respect and reverence, almost a spiritual or communion act, which became sensationalized when they were rescued.

This real-life experience was made into a fictional film “Alive”

You respect the survivors who matured so much during their months in isolation. You understand why they did what they did.

You put yourself in their position and wonder how and what you would do. Nature was very unkind to this group, putting up roadblock after roadblock.

But somehow, after months of deprivation and cold, two were able to move out and rescue themselves. Those who saw them initially said, “They smelled of the grave.”

You wonder how much pain there was reliving their plight more than 30 years later.

STRANDED: I’VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS

• Written and directed by Gonzalon Arijon

• In Spanish with subtitles

• Runtime: 130 minutes

• 2 1/2 stars out of 4

The Uninvited

EMILY BROWNING (left) and Arielle Kebbel in "The Uninvited."


‘Uninvited’ great thriller, great ending
VIDEO VIPER IN WEEKENDER for Nov. 13, 2009

Halloween is over but that doesn’t mean you have to put off seeing the thriller “The Univited” for another year.

The movie opens with young Anna, played by up-and-coming actress Emily Browning, who has been in a mental institution and is prone to having graphic and disturbing dreams.

She is released to the custody of her dad, played by David Strathaim. Mother died in an explosion in the cottage by the lake, that had been converted into a sickroom..

Anna doesn’t appear to be cured of her mental problems, but her analyst, played Dean Paul Gibson, says she has conquered her demons and can go home.

On the way home, she learns her mother’s all-too accommodating nurse, played by the alluring Elizabeth Banks, has become Dad’s new companion.

The Banks character just wants to be friends and have a warm, loving family. Ah, but Anna is immediately suspicious and when she decides to go for a swim, meets up with her older sister, played by Arielle Kebbel.

They catch up on what’s going on, they swim, they laugh. When Sister asks Anna why she didn’t respond to her letters, Anna says she didn’t get any.

Did Dad stop the letters. Did Nurse?

Dad is oblivious to the dark side of the Banks character and won’t hear criticism. Banks invites Anna to go shopping, have lunch.

But Anna knows better. The sisters go snooping and come up with some startling information.

Much of this well-crafted, suspenseful film keeps your adrenalin going. You enjoy the horror and supernatural aspect so much, you just wonder how it is all going to end.

One reason Anna knows there is something wrong with the nurse is she gets a vision from her dead mother.

Before the plot has a chance of slowing, Anna has another dream or vision that has you rivited to your TV screen.

Who is the Banks character really? What are her designs? What dark secrets does she have and what happens when she is confronted?

And then, what happened at the boathouse? What caused the explosion?

We see snippets through Anna’s nightmares, but we really aren’t certain the details.

Often movie directors and screenplay writers work to set the mood, make sure there are exciting scenes from the previews but run out of steam for the ending.

Whoa! I doubt if you will see this ending coming. At least I didn’t. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Kudos also goes to Strathairn, who plays the concerned father who stays in control and tries to mediate the situation and not be critical. You might remember him being very real as Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night and Good Luck.”

And Browning, the 20-year-old Australian actress, well, I would see a movie just because she’s in it. She doesn’t play the part as a screaming, annoying kid.

Her work is subtle and believable.

It is a horror film and some of it is disturbing, but it’s a great movie to watch, whether it is Halloween or not.

THE UNINVITED

• Directed by Charles and Thomas Guard

• Screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Doug Miro

• Rated PG-13 for violent and disburting images, thematic material, sexual content, language and teen drinking

• Runtime: 87 minutes

• 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Civic Duty

Peter Krause, Kari Matchett in "Civic Duty."

Krause nicely unbalanced in ‘Civic Duty’

Peter Krause, best known as Nate Fisher on HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” plays a chillingly unbalanced laid-off accountant in “Civic Duty.”
Krause plays Terry Allen, who faces his own problems after his company downsizes. He’s a boring, dorky kind of guy. When an annoying, overenthusiastic bank clerk reminds him he could use the “ATM machine” in the lobby, he gives her a lecture about how ATM stands for automatic teller machine, so she is telling him he can use the automatic teller machine machine.
Kari Matchett plays his wife, Marla, who goes off to work while he stays home and broods. He becomes mesmerized by a 24-hour news channel and its post 9-11 reports of terrorists and paranoia.
At the same time, Terry gets a new neighbor. He is Gabe Hassan, played by Khaled Abol Naga, a Middle Eastern student obtaining his masters degree, sponsored by an Islamic organization at an American university.
The new neighbor has little furniture. He keeps getting odd-sized packages. He looks suspcious at the trash Dumpster early in the morning.
Terry’s suspicions grow and grow. Wife becomes concerned about her husband’s mental health.
Terry sees President Bush on TV churn the waters, describing how there are thousands of terrorists and many are wealthy and educated.
The Krause character becomes more and more paranoid. He contacts the FBI with his suspicions.
The agent, played by Richard Schiff of “West Wing” fame, is underwhelmed by Krause’s suspicisons.
Terry breaks into the student’s home, looking for evidence. He thinks the man has broken into his home as well. He finds odd-sized bottles and test tubes. Records show the Middle Easterner is getting an awful lot of money to go to school.
And nobody, not his wife, not the FBI, agrees with his suspicions.
He becomes so crazed, he starts taking things into his own hands.
Jeff Renfroe is a novice director but does a nice job building the suspense as the Krause character continues to lose it.
The story premise is different and timely, mixing the aftermath on the attacks on the United States with the downsizing of the U.S. job market.
Matchett is effective as the wife who tries to bring her husband back to reality, knowing she is doomed to failure.
Krause keeps his character in check and methodical until he falls over the edge. It’s effective but I can’t help thinking how a younger Jack Nicholson could have played the role.
It’s a different kind of story line and for the most part it works. I especially enjoyed the climax and epilogue to the story.
The film will remind you some of “Disturbia,” about the boy with the broken foot who spies on his neighbors, and, of course, the Hitchcock classic, “Rear Window.”
So pull you head in from the window, stop spying on your neighbors and give “Civic Duty” a look.

Published in the Star Beacon Nov. 6, 2009.