127 HOURS- one word; Brilliant!!

Even today when I look back at the 2009 OSCAR’s list and see Slumdog Millionaire as the best film, I wonder “was it really that good?” I was never ever convinced that a film like Slumdog Millionaire can actually make you win an OSCAR. But yesterday, when I saw 127 Hours, I said to myself, “if this movie does not win an oscar I’ll definitely cut my arm!” and automatically this became my facebook status.

Some films transport you to the centre of their action, and watching 127 Hours your mind repeatedly goes over the same thought: What if it was me there? What would I have done? 

Director Danny Boyle has joined forces with his Slumdog Millionaire production team for 127 Hours, the adaptation of climber Aron Ralston’s real-life, five-day struggle to survive in the Utah wilderness after his right arm was pinned by a boulder. The result is a gripping film that not only does the story justice, but manages to present it with a compelling visual style – as well as offering a great performance from James Franco.

However, 127 Hours is not for the faint of heart – or the weak of stomach. The film is based on a memoir by American engineer and mountaineer Aron Ralston. In 2003, without telling anyone of his destination, Ralston headed into the Utah desert to climb through the remote Blue John Canyon. Trapped in a small crevice with a heavy boulder pinning his arm to the canyon wall, he spent five days trying to break free and call for help before finally using a blunt knife to cut off his arm.

Despite the pre-show knowledge that Ralston did not die at the bottom of a Canyon in Utah, 127 Hours is still a riveting and suspenseful film. Boyle actually uses moviegoers’ familiarity with the story to ratchet up the tension – cranking up the sound of Franco’s hand sliding across the chalkstone canyon wall, prior to the mishap – pushing the impending accident to the front of viewers’ minds.

Similarly, once Ralston is trapped, we know it’s only a matter of time before this man is going to cut his own arm off. The director utilizes this inevitability by capturing Ralston’s process leading up to the moment as he flirts with the idea for a couple days -while simultaneously failing in other, less drastic, attempts.

However, Boyle, to his credit, never allows these digressions to be too much of an escape — Franco only appears as a fragment or shadow in them, rarely fully formed. Instead of on-the-nose moments of inspiration, the flashes examine Ralston’s desperation, at both a micro and macro level, from a failed relationship to the realization that his disregard for others has led him to the canyon deathtrap. It’s only when Ralston gets a glimpse of his future that he is able to face what is necessary to save his life.

The execution of the in-canyon reality and the Ralston mindscape could have been an absolute disaster, even with Danny Boyle at the helm. However, Franco owns his performance, portraying Ralston’s journey convincingly — from an uninhibited adventurer to a physically and mentally strained man, capable of carving his own headstone into a canyon wall. Franco, as an actor, is clearly reveling in the extremes afforded by the role — from the fearful attempts to free his hand to a loopy talk-show interview he does with himself. It’s interesting to see the actor test the boundaries of his performance but it never comes at the cost of believability.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, 127 Hours is an overwhelming tale of courage under fire. It’s about hope, survival, and about choosing life. Boyle tells this claustrophobic story with such visual and dramatic zeal that in the end, it amounts to so much more than just the horror of that amputation. Indeed the image that ultimately chokes you up isn’t that of the blade slicing through flesh, but of Ralston seeing help in the end and finding his voice to summon it.

The extraordinary cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak, and AR Rahman’s haunting score complement Boyle’s rich and imaginative storytelling style. And James Franco who appears in more or less every scene delivers a performance nothing short of spellbinding. Franco invests everything he’s got; he sheds his pride, and gives up every last trace of vanity to create the most compelling character he’s played on screen.

127 Hours is a strong dramatic thriller with creative direction by Danny Boyle and a commanding performance from James Franco. Aron Ralston’s story is certainly compelling and the filmmakers did an eloquent job of portraying the details of his struggle – as well as the emotional challenges of doing whatever it takes to confront death.

In short, 127 Hours is a film of brilliance and is a great narrative, that shows what can be done with limited characters. A sobering tale of for all solo outdoor adventurous.