Some described it as a disaster, others as a miracle. In October 1972, a plane crashed in the Andes Mountains at an altitude of four kilometers, carrying the Uruguay rugby team on its way to Chile to play an important match. 29 of the 45 passengers survived the crash, but since searches for them initially yielded nothing, they were left to their fate. So they have to survive in the harsh conditions on top of the snowy mountain.

Miraculously, sixteen of them lasted at least 72 days. By coming up with innovative survival strategies that protect against the extreme cold, but also by eating the flesh of those who died in the accident. An issue that leads to long dialogues in the film about its moral validity. Would you eat the corpse of a family member or friend when you know you would die if you didn’t?

About ten books have been written about the well-known disaster and numerous documentaries and feature films have been produced, such as: Alive From 1993 with actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Hamilton. However, Spanish director J. A. Bayona (director of the disaster film Impossible) to photograph the event again. After reading the book written by journalist Pablo Versi on the subject, he had the idea not to retell the facts, as in previous film adaptations, but to focus more on the philosophical and human sides of the story. Versi went to school with some of the survivors and interviewed them for his book, which was not released until 2009, and is the basis of the screenplay.