Supervivientes de los Andes (1976)

Director:

René Cardona

Writers:

Charles Blair Jr. (book)
René Cardona Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

15 January 1976 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The most shocking episode in the history of human survival.

Plot Keywords:

Andes Mountains | Plane Crash | Cannibalism | Survival | Disaster

Cast

Hugo Stiglitz	...	Francisco
Norma Lazareno	...	Silvia
Luz María Aguilar	...	Mrs. Madero
Fernando Larrañaga	...	Madero
Lorenzo de Rodas
Pablo Ferrel	...	Raul
Leonardo Daniel	...	Carmelo
Sara Guasch	...	Mama de Silvia
Ernesto Gallardo
Gloria Chávez	...	Mujer que va a boda (as Gloria Chaves)
José Elías Moreno	...	Rodrigo Fernandez
Miguel Ángel Ferriz
Carlos Cámara
Ernesto Parra
Sebastian Ligarde	...	Felipe

Also Known As:

Survive! (USA)

Runtime:

85 min | Mexico:111 min (original version)

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | UK:X (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1977) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Avant Films S.A.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Grindhouse Universe (2008) (V)

"Survive" a viewing if you can

I couldn't. I was bored, not just because the acting was terrible and the tragic story was simply a b-movie whose plot was all about the cannibalism, but the fact I was watching a subtitle foreign film, which doesn't bother me at all, but was STILL dubbed.

The "special effects" were awful. As the back of the plane splits off, you can see the model is hollow as it "breaks away" in the phony snow. Most of the movie takes place on a sound stage that clearly is not real and almost looks like a play, as the "sounds" of snow blowing all over are heard but not actually scene.

"But how what will they eat? They have no food" one military person (It's never clear what this guy does or why he's in charge) says, which I'm sure no one ever said in reality or even thought about food, since they were concerned if the people were alive, not how they'd eat. It was simply a stupid line written to point out that, yes, they will have to eat the dead bodies to survive.

When they finally decide to eat the bodies, one man finds one shirtless body, who despite being in the snow for however long, is not remotely frozen, in fact, his flesh is very flexible and fresh. He cuts the fresh meat off his back, that again, is not frozen or even cold it appears, and this scene goes on for five minutes. That's where I had to stop. The remake "Alive" was a far superior film about trying to survive in a horrible situation that I'm sure the real survivors praised whereas I can't imagine any of them had anything nice to say about this version. It was simply about eating dead bodies and everything else was secondary. Avoid.