By Nick Rosa
Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has another nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year with 127 Hours; his most recent film since 2008 stand-out, Slumdog Millionaire. Both Danny Boyle and James Franco team up to recreate this great story of hope and triumph in a seemingly hopeless situation.
The film is based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. 127 Hours recalls the adventurous outdoorsman Ralston’s attempts to free himself after becoming trapped deep within Utah’s Blue John Canyon in 2003.
Ralston falls down narrow canyon and gets his forearm pinned between a boulder and the canyon wall. Now he is trapped with no help for miles away. As athletic as he is he cannot budge the boulder and now must use the small amount of resources and limited amount of water he has to survive. After five days of being trapped in the canyon and inching ever closer to death Ralston must resort to desperate measures.
While down in the canyon Aron starts to become delusional as the days go by and starts seeing flashes of his parents, sister, ex-girlfriend, his friend from work and two girls he had met right before he fell into the canyon. He keeps visioning what life would have been like if he hadn’t made the mistakes he’s had and the life he could have had. As despair and fear began to take over hope and inspiration he now knows the only way to get back to living a fuller life he envisioned over the last 127 hours.
It is pretty obvious that Aron could of given up at any point and just stayed there and did nothing. What the film captures well is the will to fight for life in a great and inspirational survival story. For being a true story it really hits you because you are watching exactly what Aron went through while he was in that canyon in Utah. James Franco really gives an emotional and strong performance as Aron Ralston and is nominated for Best Actor at this year’s Academy Awards for his performance.
You may know the outcome of what happens to Ralston; I won’t ruin it for those who don’t, while the scene is gruesome it’s nothing like what you would see in a Saw movie. The movie will already have you locked in to see what happens in the end.
This film with all of its incredible cinematography and visuals does deserve to be nominated for Best Picture of the year. We also cannot forget one of the performances of the year from James Franco. Boyle, with the direction of this film and his last film, Slumdog Millionaire, has proven himself to be a top notch director.
127 Hours is an excellent film that has an ending filled with hope and the whole time it will push you to the edge of your seat.
