Sobreviventes dos Andes

The father and son directors Rene Cardona Sr. and Jr. (the king and prince of Mexican exploitation!) first international hit movie. The Cardonas has given me hours and hours of quality entertainment and my expectations for Survive! was naturally mountain-high, being their most talked about and hyped efforts (amongst exploitation fans that is). I was really surprised to find out that the movie is actually a pretty dull affair. I suppose the negative imdb reviews should have scared me off, but the Cardona-flicks always get bad reviews, and hey - I would have seen it anyway. You all know the story, based on an actual incident: A plane crashes in the Andes and the survivors are forced to eat parts of the crash victims in order to stay alive. Much of the running time is filled up with endless talking and the moral issue of their survival is stretched out far too long for it's own good. The movie is not at all as gory as they say - I saw the uncut version and still feel that Alive was much gorier. I'm no real gorehound, but in such a slow moving picture as this a little more flesh and blood really would have spiced things up a bit. I would not say the movie is a complete waste of time, it does have its moments, but unfortunately it lacks the speed and charm of movies like Carlos, Hostages!, Night Of The Bloody Apes and Guyana (amongst others). See them before you see this.

Almost 20 years before Frank Marshall brought tears to your eyes with his mesmerizing epic "Alive", there already was the legendary Mexican exploitation director René Cardona who used the same drama as an outline for his ambitious film "Supervivientes de los Andes". The unforgettable fatal flight of Fairchild 571 that crashed in the Argentinian Andes on October 13, 1972. This terrible accident cost the lives of many passengers, most of them members of a professional rugby team. But 16 people of them were eventually rescued thanks to their strong will to survive and because they fed on the mortal remains of their unfortunate fellow-passengers. Of course you can't claim that this cheaply made and roughly edited film is better than the famous 90's version but I definitely appreciate and respect this film more. After all, an exploitation film demands a lot more input from both cast and crew while the big-budgeted Marshall film, although intense, feels more like routine money-making. The sets and special effects naturally can't compete with "Alive", but "Supervivientes..." delivers an equally impressive sentiment of hopelessness and creates an even more nightmarish hell of snow. Cardona's film is ambitious, surprisingly compelling and easily one of the most remarkable Mexican productions ever. I am really astonished that Cardona's take on this story isn't more exploitative and explicit. The scenes where the deceased passengers are cut open and consumed are nevertheless hard to digest, but they only serve to increase the credibility of the catastrophe and to stress the inhuman conditions of the survivors. Rather praiseworthy for a vicious director who gained fame with his notoriously bad films like "Night of the Bloody Apes" and the Santo-series. The unknown young Mexican actors do a great job and the musical score is endearing. The story is well-known, of course, so the screenplay doesn't offer any unexpected shocks. Either by history or previously having seen "Alive", you know which kind of dramas these people still have to endure before being rescued and you can only await them. Still, this is a good film that shouldn't be bashed like too often is the case.

Recounts the true-life story of a group of Uruguayan Rugby players and other people travelling to Chile to play a game in 1972 .After their airplane crashes in the remote , snowy Andes , they are forced to turn to cannibalism during a 10-week struggle to survive. Despite sub-zero temperatures, famine and scarce supplies they will do anything to survive , even if that means they have to eat their loved ones who are dead as food .The most shocking episode in the history of human survival . They survived the impossible...by doing the unthinkable . They were the ordinary young men driven to the very limits of human endurance. The triumph of the human spirit . Caution: The recreation of the 1972 Andes plane crash and the Survival Scenes may be too intense for young teenagers ¡

Thilling and exciting film concerning the famous batle for survival including gore and blood . The best scenes are the immense efforts the group have to carry out , forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive on meager rations , ultimately eating human food through the freezing cold , as well as the stirring , moving final scenes . Skillfully crafted and doggedly played by an unknown cast , exception for the partially famous Mexican actor Hugo Stiglitz who has developed a long career as national as international . Special effects are passable , but other parts of the movie are never fully realized . The movie pushes too hard and too far , and no apt for squeamish . It strives for being some inspirational but falls well short of inspired and marred by some exploitation scenes . Director Rene Cardona focus the fight for survival , but at times chooses the gruesome idea of cannibalism by showing gory images . However , the Walt Disney version 1993 by Frank Marshall with Ethan Hawke , Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton chose instead to focus on all aspects of the deseperate fight including deep relationships among them and brief remarks about cannibalism with no gore .

In spite of receiving awful critics, this "Survive!"results to be an acceptable and decent film professionally directed in medium budget by Rene Cardona (SantaClaus, Don Juan Tenorio, Asesino invisible , El Enmascarado de Plata , Blue Demon, El Pueblo del Terror , Santo y tesoro de Dracula , Tesoro de Moctezuma and many others) .Rating 6/10 . Passable and watchable .

Survive! (1976)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

American version of the Mexican film SUPERVIVIENTES DE LOS ANDES, which is based on the true story of the soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes Mountains and those who survived had to resort to cannibalism in order to live. SURVIVE! was cut down by 26-minutes, had a documentary style narration added and of course was dubbed in English. When I saw director Rene Cardona's name I was expecting some major exploitation and while there's certainly some, this here is actually fairly well-made when you consider how small the budget is. Most people are going to know this story from the American film ALIVE and if you're looking for an uplifting look on the subject then that's the film to see. This one here was obviously rushed into theaters to try and capture some of the hot buzz around the story and apparently both version were a major financial success. I was surprised to see how effective the plane crash sequence was here as they had to use some good editing to sell it. The performances aren't all that bad and there's no question that the story itself keeps you interested. There's a lot of focus on the cannibalism in the film and there are several rather graphic moments where we see the skin being removed and eventually eaten. These scenes aren't nearly as bloody as the film's reputation would have you believe but they're still going to turn some off. The American version runs 85-minutes and features some narration added to the material just so they could cut out a bunch of dialogue sequences that I'm sure set everything up. The original Mexican version clocks in at 111-minutes and contains more scenes of the military trying to locate the down plane and one survivor's father has a much bigger role in the Mexican version.

The highest compliment one can pay to this movie is that it's no better or worse than the 1993 version of the same story ("Alive"), despite its having been produced on a much lower budget, with more primitive special effects. The problem is that if you're familiar with the story, there are no surprises left; you're simply waiting for the inevitable. It must be noted, however, that the "gore" factor has been considerably hyped up: the scenes that are "not for the squeamish" amount to a total of two. (**)