127 Hours!

A beautiful movie indeed, as though crafted especially for the adventure lovers, yet for everyone at the same time! The movie quite aptly depicted the craze that an adventure enthusiast lives with, rather for! They worship nature's beauty and keep treading in pursuit of their religion, Adventure! Aron Ralston's story in this movie is one which every fellow adventure lover will identify with. Though the movie revolved around a single person stuck in a sure death situation for 127 hours, it kept the audience engaged on the edges of their seats as though experiencing themselves in the same situation! It personified the very survival instinct that mankind is all about. As the film progressed, Aron's desperate measures to free himself from the trap amazes us. An Engineer by profession, an adventure enthusiast at heart! A very well informed guy about the geography and topography, his mind filled with all sorts of preparation plans and escape routes for every planned adventure to be unfolded, power-packs him with the zeal and guts to conquer it. While he is trapped in there, all that he runs through his mind are his past mistakes that he should have not committed. He is left lonely in there, and that is the time when he becomes closer to his conscience. All this while as I was almost feeling Aron's experience, I was also flowing in to retrospect of the special adventures that I

have done in my life. Be it the Everest Base camp, Kedarkanth trek in Uttaranchal, the Enduro3 Adventure race, treks with Wanderers, biking, cycling... everything was just flashing back in front of me. These adventures not only take you high on the adrenaline rush, they also take you closer to your own self. Every time you are out and one with nature, it brings you closer to yourself. You talk to yourself, you push yourself, you encourage yourself, you be yourself! This is the time when you look back on your good and bad deeds and thoughts. And as you go further ahead, your mind becomes clearer. As Aron is shown basking in the luxury of soothing his cold feet in the sun for 15minutes, every drop of water becomes precious; it reminded me of similar experiences on the various adventures I had been to, where we ought not take anything for granted. The most nerve cracking moment shot in the movie was the one when Aron frees himself from the trap and is limping out of it, at the expense of cutting his own arm! And then, he turns back and says, "Thank you"! A bittersweet feeling expressed there by a man who lost his arm, yet came out alive from the sure death situation. The best part is, Aron still continued to pursue his love for adventure after that. That is what exactly replicates an adventure lover's poise! A never say never spirit! They

never curse any unfortunate event on their path, but they only seek divine pleasure and positivity. That is what drives them again and again back in to nature's lap. Of course, like Aron did, every new venture omits previous mistakes and gains new learnings and experiences. Mere words won't do any justice to any such experience or journey! One ought do it to feel it! Loved the movie, love the spirit, love adventures! I thank all my fellow mates with whom I have had opportunities to tread through the beauties of nature. Looking forward for more! After watching 127 Hours, I left the theater and took the short walk back to the metro station. I felt more aware of everyone around me, more in touch with my surroundings. Over the previous two hours, Id run the gamut of every emotion a movie can make you feel. 127 Hours, the newest film by Oscar winner Danny Boyle, is full of joy and life. Its intense, its sad, its thrilling, its deeply funny, and it makes you think. Dont be dissuaded by the now-famous arm scene this is an incredibly exciting movie that represents storytelling and filmmaking at its finest. Carried by the kinetic direction by Boyle and an outstanding performance by James Franco (his best to date), this is a better film than Boyles last, Slumdog Millionaire. Its also more life-affirming and heart-warming than that film, without any of the cliches or Hollywood conventions. Its easily one of the best movies of 2010.Aron Ralston (Franco) is an

outdoorsman who likes to be alone away from society. He goes on long day hikes, biking around and videotaping what he sees. Early on, in a scene which beautifully reveals Ralstons character, his bike takes a nasty spill, and before picking himself up and dusting himself off, he pulls out his camera and takes a picture of himself on the ground with a big smile. He runs into two girls (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara), and he leads them to a underground pool in a cave. The girls invite him to a party theyre going to, and he says maybe to them before heading off on his own. While negotiating down a canyon, he dislodges a huge boulder, falls, and gets his right hand pinned between the boulder and the canyon wall. He has some food and water, along with rope, flashlight, camera, video camera, and a dull pocketknife but no phone. Hes picked a particular canyon path where no one is bound to find him, hes down low in the canyon where sunlight nor planes are likely to reach him, and hes told absolutely no one where he was going.As he is trapped, he has plenty of time to think. He thinks about all of the people he had the opportunity to tell about his weekend trip but didnt. He thinks about his parents and his ex-girlfriend. He thinks about death, a fate which he feels is destined to occur. Little moments, like when his co-worker at the outdoor equipment asks him where he was going and he blows him off, replay over and over. Conservation of water is a huge issue, because panic and dehydration make those

remaining sips nearly impossibly tempting. Finally, he realizes that the only way to get out of there will be to remove his arm, since his pocketknife wont chip away enough of the boulder. The only problem? The knife is far too dull to cut through his bone. As Ralston hallucinates and ponders the errors hes made during his life, he learns whats important, and he is suddenly filled with the desire to live, giving him the strength and motivation t well, youll see.I wasnt surprised by the conclusion of the plot. After all, this film is based on a book Ralston wrote about his experience, so its obvious that he lives. What surprised me was how moving the film was without ever becoming exploitative. This movie is based on real events with very few exceptions: he did have visions of his loved ones, and he did videotape his will and testament. Francos performance, without any question the best work hes ever done and perhaps the best performance by an actor this year, manages to be truthful and understated while never failing to capture the gravity of the situation. He utilizes an everyman sense of humor, the type of humor that one needs to have to stay sane in such a horrifying set of circumstances, without ever being forced. The tone of the film is flawless. It can go from nail-biting suspense to heart-wrenching sadness to laughout-loud humor and back within a ten-minute span, and while the script is structured well, Im not convinced this film works without a performance of Francos caliber.Danny Boyle is the one who really makes

everything gel, however. The trap of making a film like this is the boredom factor: how do you make a movie that takes place in one location exciting? (Everyone had hyped up that Ryan Reynolds movie that takes place entirely in a coffin, and then no one saw it. Why? No one wants to watch ninety minutes of the inside of a coffin.) The camera soars in and out of the canyon, cuts to flashbacks, zooms through his camel pack and into his canteen. Its a visceral, almost raw experience. By not keeping the camera in the canyon, he makes the film more exciting AND he manages to capture the claustrophobia far better than if hed filmed exclusively from within. He also is as good as any living director at utilizing sound and music to help set tone and make his points. The removal of the arm, while intense, never exploits the violence. Its intense not because the camera lingers on the gore, but because we care about the character. Its not a moment of horror, but one of ecstasy hes in pain, but hes free and he knows it, which gives off a sense of joy. Tonally, this type of juxtaposition is tricky, but Boyle captures it seamlessly. 127 Hours is about learning that life is other people, and the importance of fighting for life with every fiber of your being. Its not cheap, manipulative, and cloying like so many movies which try to be lifeaffirming Boyle shows it by breaking an arm and slicing through muscle and nerves. Theres not a frame of film that takes a misstep. Its nothing short of a cinematic

achievement, and if theres justice, it will keep the Oscar competition at arms length.

James