Franco nails this key moment with rare emotional intensity.Īlthough Ralston’s ordeal gripped the world seven years ago, there was no guarantee that a film would do justice to the chilling true story. But that lone-wolf mentality also puts him in deadly peril, and the scream that he utters near the end of the film - “I need help!” - gives voice to his belated awareness of the inadequacy of the Wild West code of self-reliance that stunts so many men. Aron was reckless enough to embark on this climbing expedition without telling anyone where he was going, and the film sees that his cocky, independent spirit gives him unusual survival skills. 127 Hours is a pointed, double-edged critique of masculinity. The different moods Aron experiences point to the deeper themes of the film. Here he manages to create a radically different character - an extroverted adventurer who is forced to turn reflective. The actor already has demonstrated tremendous versatility, and just this year viewers have seen him as one of Julia Roberts’ lovers in Eat Pray Love and as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Howl. He is aided enormously by Franco, who pulls off a virtual one-man show. From here, the film moves into a more interior mode, though it maintains energy by drifting in and out of Aron’s memories and fantasies.īoyle takes advantage of the beauty of the setting, familiar from many John Ford Westerns, but he also captures the inner life of the character. Suddenly he dislodges a boulder that pins his arm and traps him. The clock stops when Aron leaves the girls and begins climbing down a canyon. We share the rush that the characters feel, but we also feel a sense of impending danger. Here the style is meant to mirror the energetic personality of the protagonist, an adrenaline junkie who savors adventure and shares his infectious enthusiasm with anyone he meets.Īron encounters two girls while hiking in Utah and immediately goads them into climbing across a steep ledge and diving into a crystal-blue lake. Boyle has demonstrated visual razzle dazzle and kinetic editing since his early films, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. The film opens with a bang, with lots of split-screen effects and speeded-up digital images, as Aron heads off for a trip through Canyonland National Park in Utah.
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