The Lessons of Cannibals

Stranded: I've Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains

by Sam Adams

Recommended

"It was like working with marble," recalls Gustavo Zerbino in Gonzalo Arijón's harrowing documentary, Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains. The "it" he describes is the process of cutting human flesh from the frozen bodies of those who did not survive the 1972 plane crash that left Zerbino and 27 others marooned on a frozen peak high in the Andes. Their story has been told before, in print and on film, in the 1993 movie Alive. But there is no substitute for hearing the survivors themselves recount the events of the 72 days between crash and rescue, a story that, incredibly, is in the end more inspiring than horrifying.

Using interviews with the survivors, some conducted at the crash site, now known as the Valley of Tears, and a few distracting re-enactments, Arajón reconstructs the daily ebb and flow of hope and despair: the discovery of the plane's tail section, with batteries and material to make a sleeping bag; the futile attempts to rig the plane's radio to call for help. Along the way, says Roberto Canessa, a "new society" was forged.

Arajón, who went to school with many members of the Uruguayan rugby team that was attempting to fly to a match in Santiago, Chile, approaches his subjects without hesitation or prurience. He allows the pause to hang in the air when one survivor recalls saying, "I think we're going to have to ..." The survivors manifest what at first is surprisingly little guilt over their turn to cannibalism. They had, after all, already eaten everything imaginable left in the wreckage, including makeup and cologne from scattered pieces of luggage.

As their numbers dwindled (only 16 of the 45 people on the plane made it out of the mountains), the survivors made a pact that if they died, their bodies were to be consumed without reservation. Before Fernando Parrado set out on the last-ditch attempt to find help, he gave permission for the bodies of his mother and sister to be used in his absence.

Stranded's story of cooperation and self-sacrifice gains added resonance in troubled times. Even cannibals have lessons to teach.

(s_adams@citypaper.net)

Stranded: I've Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains | Directed by Gonzalo Arijon | A Zeitgeist release | Opens Fri., Dec. 12 at Ritz at the Bourse