Eduardo Strauch, one of the 16 Uruguayans who survived for 72 days in the Andes mountain range, told EFE this Sunday that the film ‘The Snow Society’ by the Spanish Juan Anonio Bayona, candidate for the Oscar for best International Film, narrates that tragedy should always have been told.
In an interview during a visit to Guadalajara (western Mexico), Strauch stated that of the three films that have been filmed around the story of the rugby players whose plane crashed in the Andes mountain range, the one in Bayonne is the which he and the other survivors really liked.
“This is the one I absolutely like. “This is the story told as I always hoped it would be told, in the end it fell into the hands of this wonderful Bayona and it is told as it should always have been told, as the real story,” he said, referring to the 1976 Mexican film and the North American one. Alive”, from 1993.
The Uruguayan Eduardo Strauch, one of the 16 survivors of the plane crash in Los Andes in 1972, giving his opinion on the film ‘The Snow Society’ in the city of Guadalajara (Mexico). EFE/ Francisco Guasco
‘The Snow Society’ tells the story of the survivors of the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which was transporting the members of the Old Christians Club rugby club of Montevideo, friends, family and five crew members to Chile.
From the story to the big screen
The plane crashed on October 13, 1972 in a remote and hostile wasteland of the Andean mountain range where the 16 survivors spent 72 days under extreme temperatures, avalanches, snow storms and feeding on the corpses of their deceased companions.
Strauch praised the atmosphere reflected in the film, a product of the work of Pablo Vierci, author of the book of the same name that gave rise to the film, and the director, who consulted with the survivors on aspects such as the color of the seat upholstery, the smells of the place and the sensations they experienced.
The Uruguayan Eduardo Strauch, one of the 16 survivors of the plane crash in Los Andes in 1972, giving his opinion on the film ‘The Snow Society’ in the city of Guadalajara (Mexico). EFE/ Francisco Guasco
He stated that the film helped heal the families of the 29 people who died during or after the accident by showing them how they spent their final hours.
“(It helped) to heal. The families of the dead, 50 years later, still had wounds and when they saw the film, which is so real, it is as if they had been in there, they understood a number of things and realized everything we had suffered and that “It helped them a lot,” he said.
an odyssey
Strauch, now an architect, was 25 years old when what he calls “the odyssey” occurred. He was one of the oldest players and, together with his two surviving cousins, Adolfo Strauch and Daniel Fernández, convinced the others of the need to feed on the flesh of the deceased to survive.
“The three of us agreed that it was the only way to survive and we convinced ourselves pretty quickly that it was the only solution. Adolfo was the first who offered to cut, then Daniel and I, and we also collaborated in the distribution of food, it was difficult to overcome the taboo, but once we overcame it it was clear that it was what we had to do to live,” he said. .
He recalled that although some companions did not accept that solution, seeing that the others offered to serve as food in case of death, helped them convince themselves.
“It was such a wonderful gesture of solidarity, some had already died, others had not and no one knew who was going to be whose food and when we offered ourselves to each other, everyone was convinced,” he narrated.
‘The Snow Society’ revives sensations in Strauch
The Uruguayan now tells what happened without hesitation, but he confessed that there was a time when he preferred to remain silent so as not to hurt the families of those who died in the mountains and because many people wanted to know the story out of morbidity and not because of the “human feat” that was.
Although he has returned to the scene of the events, he assured that watching the film has revived feelings like when his partner Antonio Vizintín took the photographs days before being rescued and which are recreated in the most recent film.
“It’s all so real and so precise, I remember perfectly what I felt when they took the photos and I thought, why? Who will see them? Will anyone ever see them? “I always had a feeling… ugh, very strange and ugly,” she expressed.
Strauch confessed that the survivors are surprised by the furor that the new film has caused among the younger generations and considers that it is part of their need to know that people their own age can fight and transcend.
“The kids are looking for that which has dissipated in this society, they go around like crazy looking for immediatism, happiness with consumerism and they realize that they get nowhere, this makes them see what human beings are and what the real path that must be followed to be happy and how many values and capabilities we have,” he concluded. With EFE
