127 Hours (2010)

Director: Danny Boyle
Screenplay: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (based on the book by Aron Ralston)
Cast: James Franco
Music: A.R. Rahman
Time: 93 minutes
Bottom-line: Gruelling, compelling, but far from comfortable viewing

If you are one of those people like me, whose first impression on the film was “It’s a movie about a man and a rock... how boring!” – ensure that you put 127 Hours right on top of the list of your “To-Watch Movies” list. This 2010 biopic survival drama by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle is an engaging film, although it will be a gut-wrenching experience for most.

There is no force on Earth more powerful than the will to live.
Adventurer Aron Ralston (Franco) heads to Canyonlands National Park, Utah, for a day of hiking. While exploring on his own, he slips and falls, and a boulder traps his arm against the canyon wall. He yells out but realises he is completely alone. Over the course of the next 127 hours, he tries various methods to free himself – chip off the rock, build a pulley... but nothing works. He rations food and water, but eventually he is forced to drink his own urine to survive. Watch the tale of Aron Ralston, as he finds himself between a rock and a hard place (literally!).   

Franco as Aron 

What makes 127 Hours unique as a survival tale is that Boyle makes you sure you focus on Ralston and Ralston alone – almost throughout the film we see what Aron does to free himself, how his mind and body slowly stop functioning, and then his eventual triumph. But with no other part of the storyline to throw us off track (except 15 minutes in the beginning), it really does feel like the viewer is also stuck with Aron in the canyon; you can feel his every emotion, and you vicariously endure all the struggles he undergoes. Yes it is true that the film is pretty much about “a man and a rock”, but only Danny Boyle can make it an unforgettable watch.

The cinematography in Boyle films is something to look out for, and in 127 Hours, though the camera rarely moves out of the crack in the canyon, it is able to capture all the nuances in emotions, the hallucinations, and not to forget the loneliness of Aron. Towards the end the content shown on screen gets disgusting and bloody, but it is part of the experience – you were stuck with Aron till then, and so you must watch the film till the end however sick it may be! I also liked A.R. Rahman’s score for the film (in his second collaboration with Boyle after the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire).

The real Aron Ralston

Often critics praise actors by saying “It is a one man show!” but only watching the film I realise how loosely the term is being used! This is the perfect example for the so-called one man show because literally, there is only one man for 90 out of the 93 minutes of screen time! All eyes are on James Franco, who delivers one of the greatest performances of the past decade, and I am shocked that the Oscar (and most of the major acting awards) went to Colin Firth for The King’s Speech. The way Franco makes the transition from the care-free adventurer to the man who almost loses hope in living is sensational, and for someone who has had very few major performances till then, Franco carries responsibility on his shoulders with amazing panache!

In a year with a lot of blockbusters like Inception, Toy Story 3 and my personal favourite, The Social Network, this biopic went unnoticed by many. But it is certainly a well-made film, with James Franco giving the performance of his life!

My Rating: 4/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%