Whilst previously admirable of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire but ultimately failing to connect with it on the level that several audiences and critics alike did, 127 Hours comes as an honest and brutal surprise, chronicling the true story that most everyone knows in some capacity, of which is a thing that a person should never have to endure.
When I first heard of this film upon its initial release, I, probably like some others, dismissed it before seeing it in an appallingly closed-minded fashion. The story is fascinating to be told within a 5 minute window, but how could someone take it and stretch it into a feature length film? After dismissing it all that time ago, a friend recently urged me to watch it... and if I could eat my own hat, I would. There are so many things that this film got right, but in the end, the film hinged on the incredible performance from James Franco.
He genuinely is the glue that holds this film together, as without a naturalistic performance like his, a disconnect with the story on offer would be immense. You spend the whole film looking at his face, often within intimate distance, contemplating his thoughts as he does. The aspect of hallucination and imagination play quite heavily into the runtime, and they serve as some of my favourite parts of the film, giving that glimmer of hope for his character that the ideal can happen, but pulling all sense of comfort away from beneath your feet just as you come to realise that what is being seen could be farce.
Video logs from his character as occurred in the real life scenario really help to detail the struggles of the character directly to the audience, as if the story could be taught in retrospect, if only seen from the view of the camcorder which could have been a potentially interesting angle, albeit clichéd. However, whatever creative liberties are taken with the true tale, they are concurred with the actual subject of the story and the flow of it instead of just dramatic effect for the sake of it, a majority of the events are factual, but streamlined to fit into the brisk 90 minute run time.
A notable moment towards the end of the film relating to a certain amputation is exhilarating, the nerve endings being represented with static and the screen filling with red, helping you to comprehend the immense pain involved in doing such an act. It's a certain type of phantom pain that not many films can achieve myself as an audience member to react to. You imagine the pain to the point that you can almost feel it. It can only be described as exceptional film making in terms of conveying such a painful experience to an audience without being overly brutal or exaggerating it to an aforementioned dramatic effect.
127 Hours is certainly something special, giving a true to life account of one Aron Ralston whilst not straying too far from the picture when it comes to turning it into a largely entertaining story of why you should never be alone while being in the middle of a desert. Perhaps its worth to travel backwards in time to see Danny Boyle's past filmography...
