127 Hours

Aron Ralston is one of those intolerable people who spends their entire time hiking, climbing and mountain biking across unsuspecting areas of wilderness, and videoing themselves doing it. He's out showing his contempt for nature one day, attempting to beat some kind of speed record for traversing a canyon in Utah, when he slips, dislodging a boulder, which falls, pinning him in place, trapping his right arm between the boulder and the canyon wall, and the boulder's got itself good and wedged. In short, he isn't going anywhere.

Now, we know that this is based on a true story, related by the guy afterwards. And we know the film is called 127 hours, so we're looking at him being trapped there for a little over five days. What this film is interested in, is how, in that time, a person is changed by their ordeal, in order to do something unthinkable to survive (if you know what the unthinkable thing is already, well and good, if not, it'll come as a lovely, lovely surprise about 80 minutes in.)

What we find, though the flashbacks, video diaries, and eventually, hallucinations that Ralston has, is that he's up until now been a rather selfish, self-absorbed guy, more interested in what he's doing, rather than what he's thinking or feeling, and who he's doing it with. And it's that lack in himself that he has to overcome, he has to find something within himself to survive.

I'm a bit in two minds about the film. Technically, it's superb; James Franco as Ralston gives an excellent, believable performance. Danny Boyle blends reality, memory and fantasy seamlessly, and you're often left wondering what's real, as Ralston must have himself, after four days trapped. So it's an excellent presentation of the story, as it did happen. And I'm sure the story is in many ways extraordinary; I don't know if I could do what Ralston did to survive, much as I would have recognised as he did that it was the only option. So to that extent, it's a film that asks that question of you; what would give you the strength to do it?

But, sadly, on the other hand, Ralston's reasons are a bit mundane. I feel somewhat of a smug ratbastard saying so, and in the context of the events that happened to him, that's what gave him the strength, I'm not judging him. What I am kind of questioning is that, given that his reflections are "I really should have talked to my mum more" and "I shouldn't have shut out that ex-girlfriend", well, these are not unusual sentiments, and given that we are basically spending 90 minutes in Aron Ralston's head, I just wished the place had more in it. Comparisons to "Buried" come easily, both being about normal people trapped in impossible situations, and I think Buried had more to say, what with the whole political business of the Iraq situation as the background.

In comparison, Ralston is basically in the canyon because he chose to go there for recreation, and got himself out of there because he didn't want to be dead, and found himself a future to hope for, to give him strength. Essentially, it's quite a one-dimensional story. I feel sorry for the guy, and am glad he survived, but I'm not sure his story has even the 90 minutes of drama we were presented. We're told that he still climbs and puts himself in precisely the same positions, with the only difference being that he now makes sure he tells people where he's going so someone can come looking for him if he gets into more trouble. I'm left wondering, given that, whether he actually learned anything at all from his ordeal. It's all very well claiming that the love of your family gave you the strength to survive, if you then persist in putting yourself in danger. I'm sure his mother must now die a little inside every time he goes.