Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche

This documentary had me riveted to my seat. I have always had an interest in this story, mainly because of how it affected our family. My brother-in-law was a professional skier at the time and his girlfriend was at the resort working that day. She became so worried about the weather conditions, so she called my brother-in-law to come pick her up. The avalanche happened about an hour after they left. It was a miracle she avoided the catastrophe that followed. I've heard this story so many times, and I'm glad someone finally did a documentary about it. Thank you to all those who worked so hard in the rescue efforts.

I wish documentarians wouldn't use music underneath entire films. I was looking forward to watching this movie and learning about what took place, but I couldn't get through it because the music played the entire time and took away from the dialogue and content. At times the music was almost as loud as the person being interviewed. I've noticed this happening a lot with more recent documentaries. You want people to watch a film, not become distracted by it. I was a freshman in high school when the avalanche took place and remember hearing about it. The film is highly rated, but I couldn't get through it. Hopefully, I'll find another documentary on the same subject without the overbearing music.

7.0 stars.

This is a semi-memorable documentary about a really bad avalanche in one of the most avalanche prone resorts in the world. What's the big surprise here? It's obvious that something like this was going to happen in such a hazardous location, and yet, the local "experts" figured they had it under control. It's a sad story of the needless loss innocent lives. These things happened a lot in those days, not so much now 40 years later. We don't see nearly as much of these dangerous occurrences in the United States these days. For some reason our safety awareness has skyrocketed ten-fold since the 80's, yet life expectancy hasn't changed. I find that interesting. This film is very well done. I don't watch a whole lot of documentaries, but got through this one just fine.

It's kind of wired felling that watching this documentary when I am working for this resort. And the day I watched this is also the day they close the both resort due to high risk of avalanche. So I stay at home and review this said history. It's not as said as I thought, but it remind me should respect our mother nature more next time when I go to Alpine. Ski or working... The whole documantary has many many interview with the person who experience this accident and many valuable materials. It really helps me understand more about avalanche control and many other knowledge about snow and mountains.

The necessary elements for an outstanding movie are the same whether for a documentary or feature film.:

1] Compelling story and script.

2]. Performance quality that is genuine with unmistakable emotional content that resonates with and enlivens the emotional experience of viewers.

3]. Cinematography that effectively supports as well as enhances the visual story-telling process.

It is my opinion that "Buried" embodies the highest qualities of each of these elements and clearly demonstrates that it's creators possess a mastery of the visual story-telling art. It would be impossible to produce a documentary of this quality without a remarkable commitment of time and compassion. Interviewees rarely share their hearts as openly as those in this film without a substantial level of trust and comfort. Although based on the consequences of a natural disaster there is a consistently uplifting theme of heartfelt humanity throughout. The film also successfully highlights the necessity for avalanche awareness as well as the need for improved prediction and snow management practices.

Bravo to director/producers Steven Siig and Jared Drake for this monumental achievement.