Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (Arijon, 2007): France

After watching “Stranded: I Have Come From A Plane That Crashed In The Mountains” I was completely in shock. I was stunned at what I had just seen and I didn’t quite know what to say except for “wow”. I find that it is hard for me to decide what movie has been my favorite so far at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The most touching movie however I know for a fact is this film.

Director by Gonzalo Arijon (Por Esos Ojos) tells a story of hope, loss, struggle for life, change that is nothing less than astonishing. The Arlington Theater was packed with what seemed to be an older crowd, but I highly recommend this film to people my age in the younger generation. I believe you can learn a lot from the men telling their stories, no matter how old you are.

The story begins as 45 high school rugby players climb onto a small plane to Chile, excited about flying and their 4 day visit with their teammates. Their trip takes a drastic turn when the plane crashes in the Andes, leaving some dead and others stranded struggling to survive and fend for their lives. Through a period of roughly two months, this amazing group of human beings, are forced to make decisions you wouldn’t think humanly possible, such as feeding on the friends they had lost during the crash. Sitting in the audience watching the actual players 30-40 years later talking about their experience and how it felt to try to survive through this tragedy will stick in my brain forever.

The rest of the film is just as amazing, leaving you feeling grateful for the things that you have and questioning everything you complain about. Suddenly, the things that mattered in your life change a little because of this incredible story. I don’t think there are any more showings listed as of right now, but keep checking the schedule and hopefully it will play again sometime in the next few days. It is definitely a “must see” and I would recommend it to anyone. As a precaution, it does talk about cannibalism so it isn’t for light at heart, but they talk about it in such a way that moves you to tears and makes you think – ”what would I have done in a situation like that”.