Possibly my most favourite movie moment so far? Ever? Maybe. It sent chills down my spine. Not movie-goer 'ooh this'll be a good 'un' chills but real, 'I am actually afraid of what this pivotal point in the story will inevitably lead to' chills. Obviously the incomprehensibly harrowing act of hacking ones arm off provided the necessary gore factor to make it possibly unwatchable, but for me, this was not what struck me as the main horror on offer.
No. It was all about the mind. Upon the realisation that he wasn't getting out of this one easily, he immediately took out his camcorder and started documenting his ordeal. And why would he do this? One for the archives? Or just the haunting wariness that it might be necessary to provide some sort of story or relic to what may become of him? Aron, played ridiculously well by the immensely talented James Franco, knows from the very beginning what could lie ahead. As someone who faced danger with a seemingly careless audacity up to this point in his life, he is well aware of how fragile he is. The ubiquitous scene which pans out from his tiny entrapment to the vast planes of the canyons that surround him is stunning but also terrifying, almost jocundly telling the audience 'mate, you've no chance!'
The film is shot very well, and with great emphasis on the claustrophobic setting, we are invited into the crevice to live out Aron's mental torment. We can grimace every time he reaches for that blade. In our hearts we know that we would never be that type of person but actually, I found myself thinking, why not? How can anyone really know? I found myself going over and over in my mind that one particular scene where he gives up on the knife and uses his finger and, slowly at first, he starts tearing away using his bare hand.
And every time I think of 127 Hours I go to a new part of the film which I remember with gut-wrenching pangs of empathy: the scene where he watches the tape of himself swimming with the girls he met previously, closing his eyes and desperately trying to distract himself with thoughts of arousal; his disturbingly rational conclusion of how far his water supply will go; the moment of pure primeval instinct when he wakes up, realising he is not dead and firmly deciding to survive; and then, the achingly beautiful scene where he kneels before his saviours, knowing that he can surrender, he can let someone else do the rescuing, and falls momentarily asleep. A stunning scene which I absolutely adored; just how far our bodies can take us, what we can live though, only to almost completely shut down in a moment of relief. There are so may points in this film like these which make it the gem that it is, all showing explicit human emotions: fear, terror, desperation, vulnerability, I could go on.
It is this type of film which makes me glad to be doing this. I may not have cried outwardly but this story really got inside my head, it will remain there for a long time. I will watch this film again and maybe even again. James Franco and Danny Boyle made me fall in love with this story, with the art of film-making and the art of acting. I want to be able to watch it with fresh eyes, I only hope that in the future of film there can be another one of these. I only hope it doesn't cost someone his arm....
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