Concerto for Left Hand

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2011)

Films such as 127 HOURS come along all too rarely. Based on a true story, the memoir by Aron Ralston 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place', and prepared for the screen by Simon Beaufoy and writer/director Danny Boyle, this film is a paean to the indomitable spirit of man. Basically a one man drama - Aron Ralston (James Franco) - the writers and director have managed to transfer enough outside of the story energy to keep the film in motion at all times.
The story is well-known: Aron Ralston (Franco) set out for one of his freewheeling adventures in April 2003 in the canyons of Utah, befriends two girls (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) in hiking distress, and proceeds on his hike only to fall into a crevice with a heavy rock crushing his right hand. The story is about the 127 hours Ralston endures and ultimately survives by excising his own partial right extremity, thus limiting all his efforts to the use of his left hand, freeing himself until he can return home to his parents (Kate Burton and Treat Williams) and his girlfriend (Clémence Poésy). The magic in the film is how immersed Franco is in this role, keeping our attention and compassion through his on-videocamera jokes and pathos. How he survives is a wonder of nature, of ingenuity, and faith, and that is what sets the film apart as being so special.
Grady Harp