Rating: 
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST SURVIVAL STORIES EVER FILMED...
Review: This 1993 docudrama capably illustrates the plight of those who were on the plane that crashed in the Andes mountains in October 1972. A Uruguayan rugby team, their friends, and relatives had chartered a plane to fly them from Montevideo, Uruguay to Santiago, Chile for a rugby match. Forty five people went down with the plane, high up in the Andes mountains. Seventy days later, only sixteen of them were still alive. This film is the story of their struggle to survive and the lengths to which they went to ensure that they would. The film was done in collaboration with some of the original survivors in order to lend authenticity of detail to the film. The filmmakers tried to recreate the experiences of those who were trapped in the mountains and were forced to resort to anthropophagy in order to survive. It is a well made film, which attempts to depict the ordeal of those who were on that ill fated flight. It pretty much follows the events outlined in the book of the same name by Piers Paul Read. The movie has breathtaking scenery of snow capped mountains. The crash of the plane is one of the most harrowing on film. The treatment of the issue of anthropophagy is not sensationalized and is grounded in the context of the faith of those who were on that fateful flight. All in all, the film is a well made and well cast accolade to the endurance and faith of those who were on that ill fated flight and struggled to survive, despite the odds against them. It is certainly well worth watching.
Rating: 
Summary: A most amazing story of courage and survival
Review: Alive was by far the most amazing story of courage and survival that I have ever seen. It focuses on a horrific plane crash of a rugby team with family and friends high in the Andes Mountains and their incredible survival for 71 days until the remaining survivors are rescued. They used their cunning, practicality and resourcefulness to survive, which included eating the flesh of deceased passengers. They also experienced bitterness, despair, hopelessness and amazingly strength, courage and teamwork to guide them through their journey. They also had an incredible belief in God to guide them through the most horrible experience of their lives. The amazing journey of Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa breaching the Andes Mountains into Chile was truly enlightening. The two boys' journey wasn't in great detail but you could get the message. The events in the movie before their journey were far more disturbing. When the rescue helicopters finally flew over the mountains, it was truly moving. Just watching the survivors back at the fuselage witness this was exceptionally moving. After the film I sat back and was totally floored. It touched me like no other film has touched me, tugged at my emotions and my heart. Some parts were difficult to watch but I think it was a most amazing film.
Rating:
Summary: Intense and uplifting
Review: Frank Marshall's celluloid recreation of Andes tragedy and the stupendous will of the survivors is intensely gripping and moving. As one of the reviewers remarked that if one wants to see a demonstration of human will and spirit, just watch this movie. I watched this movie on HBO and during the entire length was absolutely seized by it. I kind of felt myself going through the horrendous ordeal and was crying uncontrollably in second half. I was so stricken and moved by the tremendous ordeal(there's no stronger word than this)my heart pleaded for their rescue every second of the movie. Kudos to Frank Marshall for managing to create such a masterpiece....few movies manage to seize viewers....this belongs to that elite category. The cast is uniformly excellent in performances and special praise for the Latino looking guy and Eathen Hawke. Cinematography is absolutely stunning right from the plane crash, avalanches, majestic sunrises to seatsledge rides.Watching the movie was so emotionally stirring and I wonder how the real survivors managed to stay alive under horrific odds. Truly a tale of indestructible human spirit, strength of will to survive, courage to face the meanest of hardships. The basic plot is explained by other reviewers so I won't go into it. Please, please watch it and marvel at the strength of human Spirit. Hope Frank Marshall makes more such movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Good stuff, but no where near the power of the book.
Review: Solid movie. For fans of the book however, this picture does not come close to evoking the emotions felt in type. A much better job could have been done, not by the actors, but by the director, in capturing the sheer weight of the undertaking, and especially the expedition. I did not have the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment at the end that I did when reading.
The ending is true to the text, but glossy and rushed. Uplifting, to be sure, but yet another example of missed opportunity in turning an incredible book into a so-so film.
Three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Tragedy In the Andes
Review: Based on a real story of a plane crash high in the Andes, this film portrays the story of the survivors who managed to stay alive for months in the grueling winter atop the mountains. I expect that the actual event was more frightening and difficult than what was portrayed in the film, of course, but it is still a compelling story. The acting is a little less than first rate, but the story here is the reason to watch as these people struggle to stay alive despite unbelievable hardship, forced to make decisions that no one should ever have to consider just to make it back to civilization. I could feel the icy coldness and the gnawing hunger and found myself wondering if I could do what these people did to survive. I found some of it hard to believe, but it is all true. A real testament to the will of man to survive despite the odds. I've seen this movie three times already, but I had to buy this DVD so I could watch it again. A compelling, heartwrenching, courageous and inspirational film, not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie - great story
Review: The plot has been described in other reviews. Well acted and directed, this movie recounts a great survival story, comparable to Captain Bligh leading all but one of his crew to safety after about 3500 or so miles in a small open boat (book "Men Against The Sea"), or Richard Byrd surviving the Antarctic while seriously sick and injured (book "Alone"). The fact that anyone even made it through the initial crash, then tobogganing at about 200 MPH down a mountain in a portion of airplane fuselage is unbelievable by itself. Add the fact that many people, prepared about as well as you or I in our living rooms, lived for 70 days way up on a frozen mountainside, makes it even more fantastic. To top it off, after weeks of planning and preparation, two of the fittest members hike around and down a 13,500 ft mountain, then trek 50 or 60 miles in 10 days through utter exhaustion, to finally reach help. It is difficult to really imagine the hardship they went through, even though it is essentially laid out on screen. The days or weeks of planning seemingly small events, and meeting with disaster on most accounts (finding the tail portion with the radio batteries, then having to go back to get the radio because the batteries were too heavy to carry, then not being able to fix the radio, etc.) is bad enough. I can not think of anything worse than having to eat your dead friends, for 50 days in a row, to just get through another day. I'm going to finish the last 20 pages of the book tonight. It has a few more grisly details than the movie, and some failed search-and-rescue details, and maybe a bit more character depth as well, but this is one instance where the movie is nearly as good as the book. If you think YOU have it bad, watch this movie or read the book. Even athiests will thank God it never happened to them.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: The plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team crashes in the Andes, and the survivors have to turn to cannibalism to continue to survive. I'm going to begin by saying, if you want to see cannibalism, get Night of the Living Dead, or Motel Hell. This is not a film about cannibalism. The few scenes that explore this part of the group's survival, focus on the moral dilemma of cannibalism vs. starvation and death. The film doesn't gloss over this portion of the story, but handles it forthrightly and with dignity. The rest of the film is beautiful. It could have easily descended into a made-for-TV maudlin tale of brave survivors fighting the odds, but it doesn't. It is a story about bravery, perseverance, and teamwork, and it addresses these things so eloquently, that I'm left feeling no one should make another film about "the human spirit," because this film says it all, and does it so well. In fact, I'd like to erase all the cloying films about personal triumph, and make this film the sole bearer of that theme. Part of the film's brilliance is the cinematography. The camera takes an active part in telling the story, with inspired shots and angles. The ensemble cast gets credit for the rest of it. Films with ensemble casts often sink under the weight of all the actors, but this film does not. This is one of the best films that doesn't have a star, but relies on the totality of talent available. With so many characters, you might think you'll need a scorecard to keep track, but you don't. Each of the more than 20 actors here plays a fully developed character. This is one of those movies that seems to step off the screen. The viewer feels like one of the castaways. The tension and drama are that real. And it made me cry. Few films can accomplish that.
Rating:
Summary: an ice cold masterpiece
Review: a group of soccer players fly over the Andes mountain and then their plane violently crashes somewhere in the middle killing and injurying mostly eveyone. they have to survive the cold weather, people start to die from sickness, dieases and avalanches,plus they seek out and try to find green land. a masterpiece of extrodinary proportions, with grisly images of death and cannibilism, this one will shock and move you. the plane crash is brutal and the struggle to survive is powerful. Ethan Hawke(Training Day, Mystery Date, Gattaca, Reality Bites, Tape), Josh Hamilton(The House Of Yes, Urbania, The Bourne Identity2002, Kicking and Screaming), Vincent Spano, Illeana Douglas(Bella Mafia, Happy, Texas, Stir Of Echoes), Jack Noseworthy(Event Horizon, Breakdown, Idle Hands) and Josh Lucas(The Deep End, Sweet Home Alabama and The Hulk2003) head some of the good cast in this remarkable and unforgettable picture. John Malkovich(Shadow Of the Vampire, Knockaround Guys) appears unbilled.
Rating:
Summary: SURVIVAL
Review: A fantastic film that teaches what it means to be human, spiritual and courageous. God bless all those that were affected by the tragedy and thank you to those who shared their story with the rest of the world.
Rating:
Summary: Dignified account of true events
Review: ALIVE (1992): In 1972, members of a Uruguayan rugby team are trapped in the Andes when their charter plane crashes in the mountains, killing many of those on board. Unable to overcome their situation any other way, the survivors are forced to contemplate the unthinkable - to eat the dead... Though the cannibalism aspect of this extraordinary true story had formed the backbone of an earlier exploitation movie (René Cardona's opportunistic Mexican thriller SURVIVE! [Supervivientes de los Andes, 1976]), Frank Marshall's dignified Hollywood version takes its cue from Piers Paul Read's bestselling literary account and places a deliberate emphasis on the survivors' spiritual response to their circumstances. Opening with a horrific plane crash (an effects tour de force) which locates the audience at the heart of an appalling catastrophe, the script - by John Patrick Shanley (ARACHNOPHOBIA) - manages to keep repetition at bay by foregrounding a series of moral dilemmas (food rationing, medical priorities, the will to survive at all costs, etc.), though Shanley's dialogue often resorts to speech-bubble platitudes ("If we do this [ie. eat the dead], we'll never be the same again") which sounds a little forced and unrealistic. Handsomely mounted on location in the Canadian Rockies, the film is toplined by some of Hollywood's brightest (and most photogenic) young talents, including Ethan Hawke (DEAD POETS SOCIETY), Josh Hamilton (THE HOUSE OF YES) and Vincent Spano (CITY OF HOPE), with capable support from Jack Noseworthy (CECIL B. DEMENTED), John Haymes Newton (TV's "Superboy"!), and Illeana Douglas (GRACE OF MY HEART) as one of the few female survivors of the initial disaster. Though pretentious at times, and perhaps a little too leisurely for its own good, the movie pays tribute to the power of the human spirit and is often deeply moving. Beautiful score by James Newton Howard (M. Night Shyamalan's composer of choice), with a haunting interpretation of 'Ave Maria' - sung by Aaron Neville - during the final credits. Though Paramount's region 1 disc doesn't mention it on the packaging, their letterboxed (1.85:1) transfer is anamorphically enhanced, and it runs 125m 54s. For some reason, the print here is missing the Paramount logo which opens and closes every other version of the film. Picture quality is excellent, and the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (remixed from the original 4.0 stereo theatrical version) reaches a frightening intensity during the aforementioned plane crash and another tragedy which occurs later in the film. The disc also includes English captions and subtitles. Oddly, no trailer has been provided, but there's an invaluable documentary, "Alive 20 Years Later" (51m 12s) - recorded in 1993 and narrated by Martin Sheen - in which the real survivors talk about their ordeal and its aftermath, and some of them are filmed during a visit to the movie's Canadian location. Another documentary, "Return to the Andes" (12m 54s), records an emotional return to the scene of the crash by survivor Nando Parrado, thirty years after the event. NB. A similar tragedy befell the so-called 'Donner party' - a group of travellers seeking a new life in California - who became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the harsh winter of 1846-47 and were forced to cannibalise their dead comrades. Movie adaptations include an excellent feature documentary (THE DONNER PARTY [1992]) by historian Ric Burns in the manner of his acclaimed TV series "The Civil War" (1990), and a sanitized Disney version (ONE MORE MOUNTAIN) helmed by veteran director Dick Lowry in 1994.
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