Society of the Snow (Spanish: La sociedad de la nieve) is a 2023 survival drama film directed by J. A. Bayona and based on Pablo Vierci‘s 2009 book of the same name,[5][6] which details the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team’s experience in 1972 after Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes mountains. The cast is composed of Uruguayan and Argentine actors, most of whom are newcomers.[7]
The film closed the 80th Venice International Film Festival in an Out of Competition slot.[8] It was theatrically released in Uruguay on 13 December 2023,[9] in Spain on 15 December 2023,[10] and in the US on 22 December 2023,[11] before streaming on Netflix on 4 January 2024.[12]
Society of the Snow received positive reviews. It won 12 awards including Best Picture and Best Director at the 38th Goya Awards. At the 96th Academy Awards, it was nominated for the Best International Feature Film, representing Spain, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.[13]
On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, chartered by an Uruguan rugby football team and their supporters to take them to a game in Santiago, Chile, crashes into a glacier in the heart of the Andes mountains. Of the 45 passengers on board, 29 survive the initial crash, although more would die from injury, disease, and an avalanche over the following weeks. Trapped in one of the most inaccessible and hostile environments on the planet, the survivors are forced to resort to survival cannibalism of those who had already died in order to stay alive. However, rather than turn against each other, the survivors draw upon the cooperative teamwork they learned through rugby, and spiritual faith, in order to escape the mountains.
