Grisly details of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes, the survivors of which resorted to eating the casualties in order to stay alive. The crash itself is hair-raising, and the rest is certainly a more tasteful (not to say tasty) treatment than the 1976 Mexican quickie, Survive. Possibly it's too tasteful. With an aim toward empathy and fellowship, little effort is made to characterize the people as Uruguayans ("We're completely screwed," etc.); but then again, little effort is made to characterize the people as people. The dialogue is sometimes ludicrously banal ("I'm worried about Eduardo. He's losing his spirit"); and the intimations of a "spiritual" experience in the tacked-on prologue and epilogue (a seemingly shellshocked John Malkovich, cigarette smoke curling around his silhouetted head) are a waste. The Linda Ronstadt-Aaron Neville arrangement of "Ave Maria" that closes the movie is no help with that, either. Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton; directed by Frank Marshall. (1993) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.