Gripping, transcendental

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2011)

127 Hours is one of those infrequent movies that makes great use out of its limited resources; in this case, its space. It's about a hiker, played by James Franco, who finds himself partially trapped by a rock, pinned against the wall of a crevasse. It's a stunning, visually visceral film with a couple of gut-churning scenes, but overall it is a magnificent, evocative thriller.
Franco is Aron Ralston, a thrill seeker who loves, loves, loves the desert around Moab, Utah. And with good reason; the aerial shots give a terrific sense of just how isolated and beautiful the area is. He's hiking the Blue John Canyon when he runs into inexperienced hikers Kristi (Kate Mara) and Megan (Amber Tamblyn), whom he cheerfully helps get back on track. It's shortly after departing from the young ladies that Aron, descending into a small fissure, slips, dislodging a medium-sized boulder, which inconveniently lands on his right arm, pinning it against the rock wall.
Throughout Ralston's ordeal, he reexamines his life and concludes that he's in his position because of his own decisions, and not just the one in which he neglected to tell anyone of his whereabouts. "All my life I've been heading toward this rock," he thinks; his new insight leads him to conclude that he's let a lot of opportunities slip by in his selfish quest to do things on his own.
The movie is based on a real-life occurrence, so it's probably no spoiler to learn that the young man does somehow survive his predicament. But it's not that result that makes this so captivating. Even if you've learned beforehand just how Aron is able to extricate himself, the scene is intense, grisly, and tough to watch. It's the kind of scene that makes you want to look away and ahead at the same time.
A lot of the film's success depends on Franco himself. Like Ryan Reynolds last year in Buried, Franco is front and center; it's all about Aron, his past and present, and the lack of mobility means much must be told through Franco's expression and one-armed activities. And he's up to the task. Franco's performance here must have been physically excruciating in and of itself, as much of the cavern scenes were filmed in one sitting. But he also brings quite a bit of emotional tension to the role, and I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to get an Oscar nom out of it.
The film does have its flaws. One problem in mysteries and other thrillers is the pull-the-rug gambit, wherein the filmmakers make the audience think A, then switch to B, then repeat ad infinitum. After a while, the viewer isn't sure what's real and what they're supposed to think. Here, director Danny Boyle does trick you a few times; is what Aron sees a hallucination, or is it real? Aron makes quick video recordings while trapped, documenting his efforts. This adds more realism (how else would we know what he's done?) and engages the audience. It also allows us to see all sides of the young man; show-off, extrovert, implacable logician, terrified prisoner. Aron's epiphanies are so vivid that we feel as terrible as he does.
But there's a big upside to that realism. When the (obvious) ending does come, the result is so cathartic that it's unlikely that an average viewer could be unmoved by it. The emotional buildup during the course of the movie is justified by a denouement that just blew me away.