127 Hours
“Trapped by the impossible, survival becomes the only way forward.”
Director
Danny Boyle
Release
7 January 2011
Runtime
94 Minutes
Certificate
15
Synopsis
Aron Ralston heads into the Utah wilderness alone, seeking another adventure in the landscape he loves. Along the way he encounters hikers Kristi and Megan, spending time with them before continuing deeper into the canyon by himself. Then everything changes. A boulder shifts as Aron descends through a narrow passage and pins his arm against the canyon wall. He cannot move it. There is nobody nearby to hear him and, critically, Aron didn't tell anyone exactly where he was going. Hours become days. With his supplies dwindling, Aron attempts everything he can think of to escape while recording messages and reflecting on the people and choices that shaped his life. Eventually he realises that waiting for rescue is no longer an option. If Aron wants to leave the canyon alive, he will have to save himself. Searchlight notes that Ralston remained trapped for five days before ultimately escaping and making his way towards rescue.
The Movie Trailer
127 Hours is Danny Boyle's intense survival drama based on the extraordinary real-life ordeal of mountaineer Aron Ralston.
James Franco stars as Ralston, an adventurous climber whose solo journey into the Utah wilderness becomes a fight for survival when a falling boulder traps his arm inside an isolated canyon.
Nobody knows where he is.
With limited food and water and no immediate prospect of rescue, Aron is forced to confront the possibility that escaping the canyon will require an almost unimaginable decision.
What follows is a remarkably intimate survival story about isolation, memory and the determination to live. Searchlight describes the film as the true story of Ralston's ordeal and eventual escape.
TRAPPED
One Man, One Boulder and No Way Out
The central situation in 127 Hours could hardly be simpler.
Aron cannot move.
The challenge for Danny Boyle is turning that physical restriction into a film that still feels dynamic, and the story does so by placing the audience inside Aron's increasingly desperate experience.
His isolation becomes more frightening with every passing hour.
No villain to defeat and no one deliberately keeping him there. Aron is trapped by geography, circumstance and one terrible piece of bad luck.
Only Aron can find a solution.
JAMES FRANCO
A Survival Story Carried by One Central Performance
James Franco carries enormous stretches of 127 Hours virtually alone.
Aron's physical predicament may remain largely unchanged, but his emotional state doesn't.
Confidence gives way to frustration, fear, exhaustion, and eventually brutal clarity as he begins to recognise how little chance there is that somebody will simply stumble across him.
Memories of family, relationships, and earlier encounters grow more important as Aron considers the life waiting beyond the canyon.
Franco's performance keeps that internal struggle at the centre of a story in which the most dramatic battle is taking place inside a space barely large enough for its protagonist to move.
CHOOSE LIFE
127 Hours Is Ultimately About the Decision to Survive
The ordeal at the centre of 127 Hours is extreme, but the film's emotional power comes from something more universal.
Aron wants to live.
As his situation deteriorates, memories that initially appear fragmented begin forming a picture of the relationships and experiences he risks losing.
Survival eventually demands a decision most people could barely contemplate.
Danny Boyle doesn't present that moment for shock alone. Everything leading towards it has established why Aron is willing to endure almost anything for another chance at life.
His escape isn't the end of an adventure.
It's the moment he chooses to have a future.