New Netflix film ‘Society of Snow’ details 1972 plane crash where passengers were forced to turn to CANNIBALISM as movie was filmed at exact site of harrowing survival tale
The horrific story of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes, where survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism, will be detailed in a new Netflix film filmed at the scene of the horrific ordeal.
In October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 took off from Montevideo, Uruguay, en route to Santiago, Chile, when it crashed into a mountain, tearing off both wings and its tail before sliding off a glacier and crashing into the snow.
Now Netflix’s new film, The Snow Society, hits theaters on January 4 and tells the harrowing story filmed at the real crash site, 12,000 feet above sea level.
In 1972, 33 passengers initially survived the disaster, but had to eat their loved ones to stay alive while awaiting rescue. Two passengers, Robert Canessa and his friend Nando Parrado, walked the mountain for several days to get help.
They have spoken in detail about the ordeal many times, including ahead of the release of the new Netflix film. They recalled the moment when they decided to leave the scene in search of salvation.
“We may be heading towards our death, but I would rather go towards my death than wait for it to come to me,” Parrado told Canessa at the summit.
In October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 took off from Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile, when it crashed into the Andes Mountains.
Netflix’s new film, The Snow Society, hits theaters on January 4 and tells a harrowing story filmed at the real crash site, 12,000 feet in the sky. Pictured: A scene from the film detailing the survivors of the mountain.
Both of the plane’s wings were cut off along with its body before it slid off the glacier and crashed into the snow. Of the 45 passengers, 16 survived.
– We’re friends, Nando. We’ve been through a lot. “Now let’s die together,” Canessa replied.
In addition to very cold conditions with homemade gear to keep warm. When help was found and rescuers reached the crash site, only 16 passengers remained alive.
In his book, I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Call to Save Lives, Canessa detailed the sinister decision he had to make at age 19 to resort to cannibalism.
He said he and other survivors would cut the flesh from the corpses “amid anguish and soul-searching” as their hopes of rescue dwindled.
“We laid thin strips of frozen flesh on a piece of sheet metal. Each of us finally ate our piece when we could stand it,” he wrote.
Canessa, now 70, is a Uruguayan pediatric cardiologist who attends annual meetings with other disaster survivors and their families.
He recently told the Today Show about his decision to eat other people: “I thought that if I died, I would be proud that my body would be used for someone else.”
A previous adaptation of the notorious disaster was featured in the 1993 film Alive, but unlike that film, Netflix’s newest version was filmed exactly where it all happened.
“We shot at 12,000 feet, in the exact same place where the plane crashed, at the same time of year,” director J.A. Bayona told Today.
Robert Canessa, one of the survivors, said those remaining were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive.
On the first night, five passengers died due to the frozen snow-capped mountain top, and the survivors were left with little to no food.
Canessa told People he had a hard time watching the last film as he “drew into that place again”.
“I’m back in the fuselage,” Canessa added.
During the crash, the surviving passengers made a makeshift shelter in the fuselage or main structure of the crashed aircraft.
They squeezed into the space they needed, about eight to nine feet in size, and removed the broken seats to use to cover the open end of what was left of the plane, Canessa described in his book.
On the first night, five passengers died due to the frozen snow-capped mountain top, and the survivors were left with little to no food.
In accordance with Fox Newsall the passengers had to eat were eight bars of chocolate, a tin of mussels, a few dates, a tin of almonds, three tiny jars of jam, prunes, sweets and a few bottles of wine.
In Parrado’s biography, he said he ate one chocolate-covered almond for three days. There was also no plant life or animals to hunt for food.
“We shot at 12,000 feet, in the exact same place where the plane crashed, at the same time of year,” director J.A. Bayona said today of the newest adaptation.
The remaining survivors were rescued 72 days later in the bitter cold after Canessa and Parrado climbed more than 400 feet and climbed to higher ground to seek help. Pictured: Enzo Vogrincic, who plays Canessa in the upcoming Netflix film.
The survivors soon learned that rescue efforts to find them had been abandoned within the first week after they managed to get the small transistor radio in the disheveled plane to work.
During the first 17 days of the long-awaited rescue, an avalanche struck the already destroyed plane, killing eight more passengers.
Those who survived the avalanche were trapped for three days in a small room with corpses. Canessa said that it was at this time that they began to eat the dead passengers.
Canessa and Parrado then decided to climb over 400 feet and climb to a higher point over the course of three days while trying to get help.
With virtually no protection from the cold weather, they encountered a group of Chilean shepherds who helped them escape by the Chilean Air Force.
“I was given a chance at a second life,” Canessa said German outlet in 2022. “I thought I was going to die because you probably die on a plane going straight up a mountain. I never thought I could be saved, and that’s why the motto is “72 days. As long as there is life and hope, there may be a tomorrow!” became a driving force in my life.”