Jessica says:
The description you might have heard about 127 Hours is probably something along the lines of, “It’s based on a true story about a guy who has to cut his own arm off.” Let’s just clear something up right off the bat – to say he ‘cut’ off his arm is a bit misleading. What actually happens is way more horrifyingly awful.
It is based on the true story of Aron Ralston, a 20-something outdoorsman who had an accident while hiking a desert canyon alone. He fell as a boulder came loose. That boulder ended up pinning his arm against the canyon wall. He remained stuck there for the 127 hours of the film’s title. 127 hours. Just think about that for a second. Think of how uncomfortable you would be if you just had to stay on your couch for 127 hours, much less be pinned against a canyon wall with no food or water.
Aron does end up cutting off his own arm, but as I said before – ‘cut’ isn’t really the right word there. He actually hacks his own arm off with a blade the size of a nail file. I am not typically squeamish in real life, or in movies, but I had to avert my eyes at points. Bones breaking, cutting nerves, drinking urine – It’s all a bit much after an hour or so. I actually just looked up the runtime of 127 Hours and was shocked to find that it’s only 94 minutes. I would have sworn it was closer to two hours. I was worn out by the end of the movie. Side note on the drinking of the urine: I learned from reading Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg that drinking your own urine doesn’t really help you any if you’re dying of thirst. It doesn’t hurt you because urine is sterile, but it doesn’t help. I digress…
127 Hours is an emotional workout. I would be remiss if I didn’t say something about James Franco’s performance. I expect to see him nominated for a Best Actor Oscar and he deserves the nomination. If you’ve seen director Danny Boyle’s previous work like Trainspotting or Slumdog Millionaire, then you know his style is a bit frenetic. I’ll be honest, sometimes I like that franticness exciting and sometimes I find it tedious. I liked it in Slumdog Millionaire and was irritated by it in Trainspotting. I ended up on the fence about it in 127 Hours. The movie did make me question how strong my own desire to live is – would I be willing to break my own bones and slice my own nerves? Would I have the mental strength to keep myself sane while starving to death? I hope I never have to find out.
I would recommend seeing this movie, but not if you are prone to fainting, squeamish, etc. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though. It’s tough.
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