12-17-10
MOVIE REVIEW: “127 Hours”
Many of you who read this blog may have just risen on Saturday morning and are preparing to plan your day. Before you head out the door to do that last minute Christmas shopping, sneak out to your deer blind, or run off to the grocery store, do me one favor: Leave someone a note about where you’re going. Oh, and bring your cell phone.
These would be two important things that Aron Ralston did not do on a late summer day in Utah in 2004. As effectively portrayed in the recently released movie “127 Hours”, James Franco plays the role of the real-life Ralston, a self-proclaimed loner who never really needed anyone. He set out on a Saturday morning with only a back pack and a day’s provision to generally meander around the rugged canyons of Utah. He ignored an early morning call from his mother. He forgot his swiss army knife. And he didn’t carry a cell phone.
None of this would be necessarily unusual or dramatic, were it not for a nearly invisible crevasse that Ralston scales about 30 minutes into the movie. After checking his footing on a lazy-boy-sized boulder, Ralston skinnies into the crevasse, only to have the boulder give way, follow him down the crevasse, and pin his right arm in a death grip. Unable to dislodge his arm, the movie’s final 75 minutes take us through the poignant, comical, and intense 127-hour period where Ralston reflects on his life, those whom he ignored, and those who loved him most. Oh yeah, and Ralston has to decide whether or not to cut his own arm off to ultimately escape. More on that in a moment.
Franco is a wonderful actor with a wiry grit. He first caught my attention in the short-lived, but entirely epic TV series “Freaks and Geeks.” Although “Freaks” lasted only one season on NBC before being cancelled, it launched the careers of Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Schwartz and a myriad of other method actors who can still be seen in movies and spot TV roles today. How cultic did Freaks become? There was a tin-can version of the only season released several years ago, and it sold like hotcakes (this reviewer owns it, call me if you want to borrow it).
But back to our story. This movie was entirely capable of being trite and morphing into the predictable “Oh-my-God-my-life-is –about-to-end” soliloquies that we’ve all seen dozens of times. However, the artful direction by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) keeps us interested through a series of flashbacks and hallucinations. There is plenty of comedy relief, and also more than a few “Blair Witch” moments where Franco lights up the screen with a hand held video camera (yes, plenty of extreme close-ups of Franco’s nostrils and those rather odd chompers he possesses).
Ultimately, however, this movie comes down to an intense decision of self-mutilation. The viewer is violently forced to consider this question: If you had been trapped for four days in a remote canyon, out of water and food, and had no hope of being found, would you cut your own arm off to escape death? Or perhaps the more insightful question. COULD you cut your own arm off?
(SPOILER ALERT: I’m about to reveal the climatic conclusion, so cease reading if you care to the see the movie; please write a note to your loved ones that you are, in fact, now leaving for NCG Cinemas, so as to avoid any confusion with being lost in the mountains.)
Much has been made of this five minute portion of the movie, and well it should. Franco rightly portrays the desperation of a man at his wit’s end. For those who are squeamish, I dare say this is a great time to slip out to the concession stand and refill the popcorn tub. Seeing the actual extrication is difficult, but not necessarily germane to the whole story. For those who can bare to watch, you’ll see Franco on the lunatic fringe – a man who decided that he really would give his right arm to live. The scene is worthy of the Oscar buzz it’s receiving.
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The real-life Aron Ralston |
Perhaps the most poignant scene, however, comes when Franco finally sees hikers after repelling down a mountain side as he searches for other humans. A primal scream grabs the attention of a mother/father/child. The cry for help neatly ties this movie in a bow. “I need help,” cries Franco, in sharp contrast to the previous 75 minutes, which showed an otherwise self-reliant, invincible young man. Franco’s Ralston has come to find that asking for help is not the way of weak human beings, but, in fact, one of the answers to discovering real joy. Reliance on loved ones is celebrated.
Having just returned from a weekend in Sedona, AZ, this movie really resonated with me. My wife and I spent last weekend exploring the Boynton Canyon, and it was both beautiful and powerful to witness God’s handiwork. But, as Tennyson wrote, nature is both “red in tooth in claw”, meaning that in spite of its beauty, it also has a funny way of turning on us in the least opportune moments. I recommend “127 Hours” for its beautiful scenery, gripping story, and for a superlative performance by James Franco. I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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I apologize for the long delays between blog posts. I’ve been busy with work and teaching a class. Stay tuned for my upcoming book review of George W. Bush’s “Decision Points.” I hope to contrast this book with another recently viewed movie, “Fair Game”, about the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame during the G.W. Bush administration, and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. Until then, I’ll talk to you Afterwords.
