127 Hours

There are films that will change you. There are films that will entertain you or educate you or amuse, to be sure, and a great many that will cure your insomnia. But occasionally a film is made that has the power to do more - a film that sort of lifts us out of the ordinary and makes us very, very aware of what it means to be human. Danny Boyle is the kind of director who tries to make those kinds of films. Last year he earned an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. This year he offers 127 Hours.

This is the accounting of five days in the life of Aron Ralston - a rugged self sufficient sort of fella - who in 2003 took off for a weekend of fun in the canyons of Utah and staggered out 127 hours later missing his arm. Perhaps you remember the headlines? Not only did Aron endure the elements, dehydration and blood loss, he cut off his arm that was trapped by a fallen boulder, rappelled down a cliff face and walked eight miles to be rescued. Just try to make this stuff up.

So how do you make a feature film around one guy? You get James Franco. Ninety four minutes of essentially one guy? Yep. James Franco. Of course he was nominated. This guy may be a complete douche for all I know, and there are rumors to that effect, but he sure can act. So he gives us an Aron that is all that and a bag of chips - so cocksure of himself that he takes off without telling a soul - and then shows us what real life, and mortality, brings to us all. It's a freak accident. And then denial. And then fear. And then survival. It's an amazing true story of the human spirit. Did it seem long? From the standpoint of chewing off my fingernails, maybe a little. But it wasn't slow. Was it grisly? Briefly and appropriately. Did it change me?
I think I'm a little more appreciative today, a little less hurried. And I'll NEVER give my kid a knockoff Leatherman for Christmas.... website here.