An experience, near death

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2010)

The biggest hurdle anyone would face in putting this material on the screen is how to make it cinematic. Danny Boyle takes hold of the static and gives it such visual verve, you might recoil and dismiss it as grandstanding. But considering the alternatives, almost without our noticing, Boyle infuses life and its need to preserve itself to a situation that couldn't be more lifeless: a man's near death pinned under a rock in a dark canyonfor four days.
We waste no time in getting to the dilemma, and after a stirring Koyaanisqatsi open credit sequence, we're there pinned down, and the "action" begins. If you've ever seen any of the real footage Aron Ralston shot when he was actually trapped, it's impressive how Boyle recreates it but takes us inside the mind of a man who rationally looks at this situation and tries to keep hold of that matter-of-factness while slowly losing his mind. It's a superior feat by someone who is becoming one of our greatest directors (rather than simply a stylist), and the work James Franco contributes by transferring Ralston's epiphany and physical ordeal to the screen is equally amazing.
Most anyone will know what happens before they see the film. But the emotional catharsis displayed here will surprise even the most cynical viewer.