The Agony and Ecstasy of 127 HOURS

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2011)

Based on the harrowing tale of survival by Aron Ralston and adapted by Simon Beaufoy and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later), 127 Hours challenges the viewer to share in a difficult, life changing event that most people could never contemplate. It's quite a feat to engage and emotionally move an audience focused solely on one person in one place. For an actor to pull this off is a great testament to James Franco's acting skills and physical prowess as well as Boyle's ingenuity behind the camera.
In April, 2003, Aron Ralston (Franco) escapes the rat race of the city to go hiking in a remote terrain. After parking his car, he goes mountain biking and then by foot deeper into isolation. There, he comes upon two hikers, Megan and Kristi, who are a bit lost. He tells them that the earth with its rocks and mountains is always moving. How prophetic! Aron guides the women and puts them on the right track after a brief adventure in a cave and a sparkling pool of water. Later, he proceeds on his trek of solitude and, while climbing between a narrow ravine, slips, and as he falls, a large bolder tumbles and pins his arm against the wall. Trying everything possible to dislodge the rock, he finds he is hopelessly trapped with limited supplies. No one knows where he is because he was didn't care enough to mention it to family or friends. He is a confident, even cocky explorer whose cavalier attitude changes through this ordeal. He displays some amazing resourcefulness in such moments as when he erects a mini tent to protect his head from the elements. As he waits in vain for help that is not coming, he contemplates his survival skills and evaluates his life and relationships. Life is precious, and he must do whatever he can to survive even if it means the unthinkable.
The entire film works despite the fact it centers exclusively on one actor. (The Spirit of St. Louis is another that comes to mind.) Franco accomplishes the difficult task by making us care for an arrogant, free spirit who knows no fear. The film focuses on minute details that could easily be glossed over. The simplest of acts become a tortuous struggle as when his pocket knife falls and he must retrieve it while still pinned. A drink of water from his ever shrinking supply becomes an agonizing death watch. The flashback scenes give us some background into his family life and a former girlfriend. He even fantasizes a vision of a boy, a son that he will perhaps have someday? He regrets the things left undone or unsaid and resolves to make changes in his life if he makes it out alive. The fact that we know the outcome does not at all diminish the agony we feel for him in close quarters and his determination to survive. In a way the big rock is a kind of metaphor for his life. What should be a liberating journey becomes a test of survival, and as the hours go by and one day bleeds into the next, we become a part of his limited world complete with cracks of sunlight and an occasional bird or insect. After awhile you wonder if we really see images he is seeing, or if it is nothing more than a mirage or hallucination. During his ordeal he uses his mini video camera to document his plight and to report on his situation and feelings. The camera becomes a sort of confessor for him.
Yes, the scene where he must separate himself from the rock is excruciating but never exploitive. The subsequent scenes where he makes his way back to civilization and encounters other hikers are powerfully heart wrenching yet life affirming. It packs a punch and wrings you emotionally as Franco finds salvation when all hope is seemingly lost. By film's end we breathe a collective sigh of relief. Yet it is the cumulative effect of emotions and our shared experience with him that are truly affecting.
Boyle utilizes hand-held cameras and crisp editing to keep things moving along in a methodically paced narrative. It is ironic at how the beautiful landscape is in sharp contrast to the horror that Aron must experience. The film may set a record for having the longest running time before displaying its first title card. There is a nice epilogue which alludes to his prophetic visions from before. This is not a morbid exercise in claustrophobia or grossness but rather a realistic recreation of the triumph of the human spirit against impossible odds and the bleakest of settings.