A gripping movie from which you will not be able to tear yourself away.

Rating: 8/10 (13 March 2011)

I saw the Academy-Award-nominated movie "127 Hours" the week of March 6, 2011.
I limn my take-away here.
Some people have described the movie as escapist entertainment. Normally averse to such cheap cinematic productions, I had to have my arm twisted to go. While I expected it to be finger-tappingly dull--or having me climbing the walls after a few minutes, it turned out to be the gripping story of a man whose pursuit of adventure suddenly finds himself in a grave position.
When the gravity of his sudden change in environment dawns on him, our protagonist is, at first, laughingly frustrated, but, ... he soon grasps the severity of his situation. Armed only with a cheap knife, some climbing equipment, and the will to succeed, he is hard pressed to figure out his path to freedom; and, like Atlas, the situation weighs heavily upon him.
Finally, after running out of water, and having deep doubts, he reaches for a solution, and plumbing the deep recesses of his mind, he realizes that his liberty had been right at his fingertips all along.
Extricating himself from his plight will be hard, and the viewer will witness some petrifying moments and excruciating scenes that are so alarmingly vivid you could cut the tension they create with a knife.
Wedged between love for himself ... and a second chance, in a series of flashbacks and hallucinations, he comes to a psychological realization and finally makes the lacerating decision to break away from his worldy attachments. These scenes cut a little close to the bone and are nerve fraying, but I'm glad I hung in there, because it was worth it.
Some scenes will rock you, and the twists and turns increase the tension scene after scene. Still, the film is disarmingly well made, and severs the ever-present connection between the self--and the goal of the self that is beyond reach.
In essence, it is about the separation between the possible and the impossible. The drama is riveting and had me pinned to my seat. It is a wrenching story, from which you will be unable to tear yourself away.
I can only count on the fingers of my two hands the movies that I would recommend this heartily. I applaud the filmmakers-- and actor, whose dexterity and hands-on approach, made the film the cutting edge drama that it is.
Borrowing the universally recognized hand signals from Siskel & Ebert, I give it two thumbs up.
Give up those things that are holding you back from witnessing this work of art; break away from your usual routine; go see this cinematic marvel before it leaves theaters.
I would be hard pressed to to recommend a more grounded film.