Le Cercle des neiges

Ces 140 minutes filent comme de l’eau. Juan Antonio Bayona maîtrise le métier et les règles du genre, et il tient là une histoire vraie et puissante. Il ne s’attarde pas sur le prologue ou sur l’avion en vol, et il plonge ses personnages dans l’enfer des neiges dès que possible. Ce n’est que là que nous apprenons à les connaître. Les confessions mutuelles de sentiments dans une situation désespérée sont efficaces, et le nombre sans cesse croissant de personnages qui meurent ajoute au drame. Le cannibalisme est présenté de manière subtile et choque surtout par la durée pendant laquelle les protagonistes de l’histoire ont dû y recourir. Et comment ils s’y sont habitués. De bons acteurs et une fin de film impressionnante avec quelques réflexions entre les lignes. Le seul reproche que je ferais concerne le travail d’orientation dans le montage de certains plans représentant l’exploration de la zone montagneuse autour de l’avion. (07/01/2024)

Bien que je n'étais pas enthousiaste à l'idée de regarder la même histoire une deuxième fois, cette fois dans sa déclinaison européenne, celle d'un film qui récolte les éloges et les récompenses un peu partout m'a convaincu. En fin de compte, j'ai apprécié la représentation de tout, du début à la fin, ce qui fait partie intégrante de l'histoire. Désespoir, espoir, combat acharné pour la survie ; j'admire tous les survivants pour avoir eu la force, la volonté, la morale et l'abnégation qui leur a permis de s'en sortir. (24/02/2024)

Bayona is a master of the disaster effect. Whereas Alive was a matter of leaving certain things somewhat in the abstract, physical details are not absent in Society of the Snow. Does that necessarily lead to a deeper experience? No, but it doesn’t seem out of place and tasteless like some of the emotional-blackmail moments in Stand by Me. I could have done without the conjuring with the (unreliable) narrator, but it’s not worth concealing the fact that, despite the slight distance that this refined filmmaking evokes, this film has an excellent pace and the actual event on which it is based has enough...well, meat on the bone is perhaps not an appropriate analogy. In any case, Society of the Snow manages to reconcile reverence with adrenaline. Nevertheless, I still think Alive is the better film (also because I associate it with the experience of going to the cinema when I was a kid) and the excellent documentary Stranded offered greater emotional and psychological depth. (07/01/2024)

This well-known story of the air crash in the snow-covered Andes whose survivors had to resort to cannibalism had already been told in the 1993 American film Alive. In comparison with that film, Bayona offers a more modern take with top-quality filmmaking (including excellent camerawork and an intense scene involving the crash itself). In addition to that, he returns this story about the power of the human will and tenacity to the Spanish-speaking realm. But that’s basically all there is to it, because the film naturally doesn’t have much to surprise us with in terms of plot. With few exceptions, the individual characters are interchangeable and their agonisingly bad fortune serves mainly to make an emotional impact on viewers. However, the film is likable in that it is a truly honest and thoroughly realistic survival drama that is unburdened by the necessity of cramming the plot with personal conflicts between the characters, who can thus focus more on the practical side of their own survival. The low degree of pathos and the very subtle and humane approach to the issue of eating human flesh are also pleasing. (09/10/2023)

Netflix and J.A. Bayona deliver a reconstruction of the famous story of the plane crash with a rugby team in 1972, and although Alive is good, this more modern package suits it even better. Those who haven't seen the original will enjoy the film even more, but for those who don't remember it like I do, this remake is not harmful. Bayona is an expert on disasters, as he already proved in The Impossible, and the plane crash is brilliantly captured. Unpleasant, realistic, and brutal (that bone-breaking scene was epic, I had to watch it three times), the characters are likable; you will root for them, as the frost, hunger, and hopelessness mercilessly engulf you, which is an important element. I was hoping that cannibalism would be more developed (I hoped they would show some butchering, but that would be entering a different genre). The scene with the avalanche is also good, and despite its longer running time, the film quickly passed by, even though nothing significant or fun happens. Netflix delivered a decent, chilling survival flick right from the start, which will please fans of the genre. The story remains powerful even after all these years. 75% (06/01/2024)