127 Hours

127 Hours isn’t an easy film to explain and it’s surely not an easy watch as well but the true story of Aaron Ralston who cut his own arm that was stuck under a boulder with all its unsettling imagery is hard film to take your eyes off. Danny Boyle’s follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire is unequivocally one of the most disconcerting films you’d ever watch but don’t let that stop you from experiencing a great cinematic achievement.

Aaron Ralston (James Franco), a mountain climber, takes off to the heart of the Grand Canyon all alone and gets stuck under a boulder. Ralston spends a grueling 127 hours with the huge boulder resting on his right arm before resorting to an unimaginable measure of cutting his arm in order to survive.

The great thing about a filmmaker like Danny Boyle is the ease with which he moves from film to film. Keeping his repertoire in mind it’s not hard to understand why Boyle would choose a subject like 127 Hours. Most of Boyle’s characters are people who’d be happy to stay away from the spotlight but when forced into a corner they find great resilience in themselves. In that sense Aaron Ralston and Danny Boyle are a match made in heaven and Boyle seizes the opportunity to film one of the greatest modern day stories of human willpower with both hands.

Based on Ralston’s book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Boyle collaborates with Oscar winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) on the screenplay, which superbly manages to convey the million emotions that Ralston goes through in those 127 hours. The loneliness, the attempts to free himself, the physical and the emotion weariness, the hallucinations and the desolation are all there and the script never lets go of the tempo. Even though there’s absolutely no sense of suspense attached to the proceedings as we all know that Aaron will get stuck and will ultimately survive, 127 Hours keeps you riveted to the screen. This is largely due to the unflinching career defining performance by James Franco. Occupying most of the screen time a la Tom Hanks in Castaway but only better, Franco becomes Ralston and you just can’t look away. It’s never an easy task for an actor to be by one’s self but Franco ensures that you don’t really miss anyone else.

127 Hours isn’t your regular survival of the will kind of tale. Rather it’s a gut wrenching and extremely tough act to take in. Boyle never shies away from the visceral and puts you right in the heart of the Grand Canyon where Ralston was stuck. Anthony Dod Mantle’s visually stunning and hyper-kinetic camerawork coupled with an evocative sound design transmit Ralston’s state of mind and AR Rahman’s Oscar nominated score takes it to the next level. Much like Ralston’s summation of his relationship with the boulder that traps him, 127 Hours marvelously culminates in the final moments where Rolston severs his stuck arm. The highly graphic and disturbing images are elevated thanks to Franco’s acting, Dod Mantle’s brilliant camerawork and Rahman’s string arrangement in the climatic version of ‘Liberation’.

Danny Boyle applies numerous techniques like split-screens, flashbacks, zooms and crazy camera angles to convey Ralston’s story but at the heart of it the protagonist’s sheer will to survive overshadows everything else. Franco’s tour de force portrayal is the focal point of the film and the actor never lets down. Watch it for sure.

Rating: 4 out 5

Cast: James Franco

Screenplay by: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy based on Aaron Ralston’s Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Image: www.iwatchstuff.com