In the early 1970s, a rugby team from Uruguay set out for a match in Chile. Some brought friends or family members, some left them behind. On their small chartered plane, everyone was giddy with excitement. But as they made their way over the Andes, the plane started to descend — far too early. They struck a mountain and broke into pieces. Miraculously, some of the 45 passengers on board survived — but they faced perilous conditions. 

From Gaudí and Goya award–winning director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, A Monster Calls), Society of the Snow tells the near-impossible true story of the 1972 Andes flight disaster. Bayona’s first Spanish feature since 2007’s The Orphanage, the film closed out the 2023 Venice Film Festival and is nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. The tale is not for the faint of heart: For those not familiar with the story, Society of the Snow involves graphic depictions of the accident and what the victims had to do to keep from starving to death, including cannibalism. 

When will Society of the Snow be released?

Stream it now. 

Where can I find the trailer for Society of the Snow?

Check it out at the top of this article. 

Who’s in the cast of Society of the Snow?

Here are the actors who play the real-life rugby players: 

• Enzo Vogrincic (Yosi, the Regretful Spy) as Numa Turcatti 
• Matías Recalt (Apache: The Life of Carlos Tevez) as Roberto Canessa
• Agustín Pardella as Nando Parrado
• Tomas Wolf as Gustavo Zerbino
• Diego Vegezzi (Toublanc) as Marcelo Pérez
• Esteban Kukuriczka (Habitación Disponible) as Adolfo “Fito” Strauch
• Francisco Romero as Daniel Fernández Strauch
• Rafael Federman (The Sleepwalkers) as Eduardo Strauch
• Felipe González Otaño (Young Hunter) as Carlitos Páez
• Agustín Della Corte as Antonio “Tintín” Vizintín
• Valentino Alonso (Once) as Alfredo “Pancho” Delgado
• Simón Hempe (Intertwined) as José Luis “Coche” Inciarte
• Fernando Contigiani García (Argentina, 1985) as Arturo Nogueira
• Benjamín Segura as Rafael “el Vasco” Echavarren
• Rocco Posca (Bigli) as Ramón “Moncho” Sabella

In preparation of making the film, Bayona and his creative team talked extensively with the victims’ families and survivors. “The survivors were instrumental. Their enthusiasm fueled the film and my perspective,” Bayona told Netflix. “It was essential for the [actors] to connect with the survivors and the other families.”

“[Recalt] came to my house, we got together with the family, he went to the hospitals, he saw my patients, he was talking to my wife and to my sons,” Flight 571 survivor Roberto Canessa, now a pediatric cardiologist, tells Tudum about how the actor prepared to play him. “The other actors [playing] my friends that died, [we told] them how our friends were.”

Is Society of the Snow based on a true story?

Yes. It’s based on the crash of Flight 571 and the survivors’ accounts of their harrowing days spent in the Andes Mountains. On Oct. 13, 1972, a rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay, boarded Flight 571 to Santiago, Chile, for a match. But on their way through the snowy Andes — just short of their destination — the plane crashed deep in the barren mountains, where temperatures can reach 40 degrees below zero. Twelve people died on impact and several more were gravely injured. Only 29 lived to see a second day in the Andes. 

Though multiple search-and-rescue planes combed the area, the search was eventually called off and the passengers were presumed dead. But many of them were still alive, starving and struggling to stay warm deep in the mountains. Those who survived spent nearly two-and-a-half months living in what remained of the plane’s fuselage before eventually being rescued. Society of the Snow tells the grave story of what happened during those 72 days in the Andes.

“The starting point for our work has always been the profound impact that the real event — as well as reading Pablo [Vierci]’s book — had on us,” Bayona told Netflix. “We had a feeling that this story had not been truly told.”

Canessa says seeing the film took him back to those fateful days. “I couldn’t believe I was back in the fuselage,” he tells Tudum. “There were all my friends there. It was Arturo Nogueira, one was Numa Turcatti… Seeing their interaction from outside, with no pressure, was a quite interesting experience.”

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Is Society of the Snow based on a book?

Yes. It’s an adaptation of the 2008 book La Sociedad de la Nieve (Society of the Snow) by author and journalist Pablo Vierci, who was a college classmate of the plane crash survivors. Vierci also co-wrote I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives with Canessa. 

“We put the project together over a period of more than 10 years, developing an approach to the story while working closely with Pablo Vierci,” Bayona told Netflix. “It’s a fascinating and complex story. [Vierci’s] book is full of strong contrasts between light and dark, and it’s very human. I was especially interested in the sense of guilt that permeates throughout the story, which dismantles the classic hero’s tale of films that depict these kinds of stories.”

“The 15 survivors who are still alive — and who are witnesses to the story — have been key to understanding the magnitude of what happened there,” Belén Atienza, one of the film’s producers, told Netflix. 

What happens in Society of the Snow?

The film depicts the real-life events of the crash of Flight 571 — from the day Uruguay’s Old Christians Club rugby team left for a match in Santiago, Chile, to 72 days later when 16 survivors finally came home. It’s told primarily through rugby player Numa Turcatti’s point of view. 

Where does Society of the Snow take place?

The film takes place in Argentina, among the Andes Mountains — one of the largest and longest ranges in the world. The site of the crash is known as the Valley of Tears. “In this film, you see the hugeness of the Andes,” Canessa tells Tudum. “We were like flies in the middle of nothing… When you see [the film], you will have to understand what we felt when we were lost there.”

Before production, Bayona visited the site of the crash. “It was amazing to visit the Valley of Tears — in the same place and at the same time of year as the crash,” the director said. “It’s a fascinating and terrifying place… But experiencing the extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and constant exhaustion helped us understand what the main characters went through.” Bayona and the film’s producers traveled to the Andes a few times during production. “Shooting some scenes there was an unforgettable experience,” he said.

Where was Society of the Snow filmed?

The exterior shots of the Andes mountains were filmed in the Valley of Tears in Argentina, at the site of the crash. The rest of the film was shot within Sierra Nevada Ski Station in Granada, Spain.

“We were looking for a place with snow so that we could place one of the replicas of the plane in an area that looked like the Valley of Tears,” Lluna Juvé, the film’s location director, told Netflix. “We looked all over the world, from the Alps to South America… but we ended up opting for Sierra Nevada.” 

Has Society of the Snow been nominated for any awards?

Yes. Society of the Snow is nominated for two Academy Awards: Best International Feature Film and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. At the 81st Golden Globe Awards, Society of the Snow was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language. At the 2024 BAFTA Awards, it was nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language. 

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