NETFLIX
“Le Cercle des Neiges” chronicles the tragedy of the survivors of the 1972 Andes disaster.
NETFLIX – To survive, they had to do the unthinkable. On October 13, 1972, Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya Flight 571 crashed in the Andes with 45 people on board. More than two months later, 16 plane crash survivors were miraculously rescued thanks to the expedition led by two of them, Fernando Parado and Roberto Canessa. This true story, which made headlines around the world, has been adapted several times. The film The Snow Circle by Juan Antonio Bayona, which has been online on Netflix since January 4th, is on the shortlist for the Oscar for best foreign film.
During their weeks of ordeal in the snowy mountains, players from Montevideo's Old Christians rugby team had to resort to eating the bodies of dead passengers to survive. The feature film offers moving realism without ever falling into pathos. And for good reason, the director was assisted in his project by Fernando Parado, one of the survivors of the theft whom HuffPost was able to meet.
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When asked why he was willing to continue talking about it more than 50 years after the tragedy, “Nando” answered categorically. “I don't feel the need to tell my story, but I keep getting asked. It's engraved in my flesh, I am a survivor. You only live once, and because of this tragedy, I decided that the second part of my life would be unforgettable. And it was exciting to be part of this project. »
Fernando Parado also agreed to collaborate with Juan Antonio Bayona to give his story further visibility. “This story continues to fascinate because it is unimaginable today. With cell phones and GPS this could no longer happen. And it's almost surreal. We shouldn't have survived and yet we survived for 72 days. Of course, there is also a moral aspect: people wonder how they would have reacted in this situation, hoping to never have to face it. With the pictures we can try to explain it to you. Surviving such a tragedy does not make you the smartest person on the planet or a monster. Only one survivor. »
Kristy Sparow / FilmMagic
Three survivors of Flight 571 Carlos Páez Rodríguez, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa on the red carpet of the film “The Ring of Snow” at the 80th Venice Film Festival in September 2023.
Nando wants to break the myth of adventure
“Le Cercle des Neiges” is not the first film to trace this story. But for Fernando Parado it is a different project because he does not present his story as an epic or romantic adventure. “Facing death so often is not an adventure. Bayona completely understood this. We were all heroes despite ourselves. Those who did not return and those who did return. It was fate and simply fate that decided. All of my friends who died believed at some point that they would survive. And all of us who survived were certain at some point that we were going to die. »
The realism (sometimes brutal for the viewer) of Juan Antonio Bayona's images was a real shock for the survivor when he saw the film. “The sound of the crunching snow, the sound of the wind, the brightness. For the first time in years, I was overwhelmed by the emotions I had felt back then. And it shocked me.” The film is deliberately very immersive. A way for the director to convey the violence of the situation, which Nando found: “The film is fair. We didn't survive there, we died. Every moment. Your body, your muscles fight, you hurt and you die fighting cold, hunger and thirst. »
Netflix
“The Circle of Snow” shows how Fernando Parado and Roberto Canessa trained to carry out the rescue expedition.
A film that redefines fear and hope
What Le Cercle des Neiges also highlights is the diversity of reactions to impending death. Some fell into despair or denial, others turned to faith. Nando chose acting. “The moment I heard on the radio that the search had stopped, I started looking for a way out and it became an obsession. I didn't want to die, I wanted to find my father, hold him in my arms. I was starving and very weak. But I just knew I didn't want to wait. I wanted to move forward, even when it seemed impossible. When you're thrown into the sea with nothing around, you start swimming, even if you don't know where to go. »
When told that his performance in the film was brave, Nando only half-acknowledges it. “Even now, 51 years later, I wonder why I made the decisions I did. I was told it was very brave. The truth is that I was very scared. And that fear increased my courage tenfold. But I was scared beyond belief.”
Netflix
Agustín Pardella (with the red hat) plays Nando in “The Circle of Snows”.
What drove him to train every day, undertake multiple expeditions into the snow-capped mountain, agree to eat the flesh of his dead comrades and offer his own in return? Don't hope. “Hope is a word we overuse there. We hoped that help would come. We hoped to be discovered. We hoped that the climbers would find help. But hope is dangerous, it pushes us to wait and see what fate has in store for us. I always prayed for help but decided to do something in the meantime. We had to stop lying to ourselves. We died. If we had only hoped, nothing would have happened. »
Fernando Parado returned to the crash site eleven times to remember his mother and sister who died in the tragedy. The only souvenir image he keeps is a photo he took with his wife and daughters during his last trip in 2007 to this place where he was “born a second time.”
“The Circle of Snows” by Juan Antonio Bayona is available on Netflix since January 4th.
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