Society of the Snow | 2023 | R | – 3.6.5

Why is “Society of the Snow” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violent/disturbing material and brief graphic nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes some partial non-sexual male nudity, a plane crash leaving many dead and some survivors fighting the elements and starvation, several dead bodies with bloody wounds visible, injuries that become infected, desperate acts to survive, survivors resorting to cannibalism, many arguments and discussions of cannibalism, and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on the true story of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes that left the crew and passengers stranded in seemingly unsurvivable conditions. The survivors worked together, even resorting to cannibalism, led by three rugby players (Enzo Vogrincic Roldán, Matías Recalt, and Agustín Pardella) so that rescuers could eventually find them. Also with Felipe González Otaño, Luciano Chatton,Valentino Alonso, Francisco Romero, Agustín Berruti, Andy Pruss, Simón Hempe, Juan Caruso, Esteban Bigliardi, Rocco Posca, Esteban Kukuriczka, Rafael Federman, Agustín Della Corte and Tomas Wolf. Directed by J. A. Bayona. Dubbed in English with a few phrases spoken in Spanish without translation. [Running Time: 2:24]

Society of the Snow SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A nude man bent over is seen from the side (we see the side of the chest, abdomen, and partial hip) as a fully clothed nurse bathes him in a hospital shower. Two nude men are seen from the side (their genitals obscured) in a long shot bathe each other in a hospital shower (we see bare chests, abdomens, and partial buttocks). A shirtless man is seen a few times, playing or working in the snow (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back).

Society of the Snow VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A plane carrying 45 people over jagged mountains hits turbulence a few times as passengers scream, the plane moves close to a snowy mountain wall and it grazes a sharp mountain top, shearing the wings off, and its tail breaks apart and falls as debris flies in all directions; passengers inside the plane scream as luggage is thrown everywhere and a man falls in the aisle as the scene ends and we later see the crashed fuselage as some men inside regain consciousness (we see a few men have blood on their faces and hands, and one body has been ripped open, with blood and gore visible briefly); a woman convulses in shock, a man yanks on another man’s leg to reset a dislocated knee and we hear loud shouting and cracking of the bones; a man yells for help, another man yells “Mommy,” and a third man shouts, “I don’t want anyone else to die,” while other survivors groan loudly.
► Four men on a mountainside argue as snow and ice overhead crack loudly, they return to a crashed plane and the snow and ice later crack more loudly and avalanche into and over the fuselage twice leaving the men to dig themselves out and dig out people they can hear yelling under the snow; several people are pronounced dead and we see a close-up of a man with his eyes open, dead and frozen in ice inside the snow in the plane. A man buries a woman in the snow near some small rocks and cries over her. Two men eat shoe leather from a suitcase and later, a man in the plane screams about stomach pain and dies.
► We hear a man was sucked out of the tail end of a crashing plane, and another man finds three dead men several yards from the fuselage and hugs one of the bodies. We see a few men climbing a mountainside twice during blizzards and high winds, slip both times, and climb back up; they then cut an ice shelf on the mountain and sleep together in a large sleeping bag, surviving the night. A man tries to break a plane window and cuts his leg; we see a little blood and we later see the leg swollen and discolored with an infection, and in two scenes, we see the infection has spread to raised, open welts on his back, and he says, “I’m dying,” and dies in his sleep. A man falls and injures his leg, gives the others his bag of food (consisting of human flesh pieces), and stumbles a distance in deep snow to the plane fuselage where other men huddle together.
► Several men leave a crashed fuselage and gather around a clothed body in the snow, obscuring it; a close-up includes a man chopping the body with a hatchet (below the frame). A close-up includes strips of human flesh in a row on a sheet of metal in the sun, and the strips look like pieces of chicken meat; we see no blood. Several scenes include men eating small pieces of flesh that are obscured by their fingers or that look like frozen and blackened balls of ice. A man takes a small cloth bag filled with pieces of flesh and buries it in the snow among rocks as a memorial to dead passengers and crew. A man on a crashed plane pokes a small bloody gash in his arm, pulls some dried blood off it and eats it. Men stack dead bodies away from a crashed plane and a narrator says that the temperature will plummet at night.
► Men pull a crashed plane’s seats out and survivors huddle together as we see their breath and a narrator says life is impossible here; in the morning, several men have ice frozen on their faces and in their hair and eyebrows. Men make a large cross in the snow out of plane debris so overhead planes can see them. A man takes jewelry, drivers’ licenses, etc., from all the deceased, marking each with the deceased’s name, and placing it all into a suitcase that he takes back to civilization.
► Men and women argue about the cannibalizing of dead people on their crashed flight. Several men say they give the others permission to eat their bodies if they die. We hear that several men and all the women died early on. Lists of the deceased are displayed in white letters on a background of white snow. Two men argue about how long they will be stranded on a mountainside in a plane fuselage.
► Three men exploring a mountainside slide back down on a sled made of a sheet of airplane metal and two of the men rig up radios: one at the crashed fuselage and another at the tail section a distance away, but the tail radio sparks, won’t work, and one of the men shouts, throws things, and hits and kicks the tail walls. Ten days after a plane crash, we hear a radio broadcast that the government search and rescue has been called off and survivors shout angrily and some cry. In several weeks, two of the men hike in snow and ice over mountains to Chile and eventually find a man on horseback who takes a message to the government to help save the other stranded people. After 72 days post-crash, two helicopters approach the crash site and 16 stranded men shout and cheer; a few men limp onto the helicopters.
► During a rugby game, players push one another, knock each other down (without injuries) and shout. In a locker room, men shout and push each other, and several men slap another man around, without injury. We briefly see a student protest with marching, shouting, and car horns honking.
► Two men share the same toothbrush and spit water. Two men in a sleeping bag lean to one side or other and vomit brown goo onto the snow.

Society of the Snow LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 2 anatomical terms, name-calling (crazy, morons, idiot, lazy, altar boy), exclamations (shut-up, whoo), 28 religious exclamations (e.g. will God forgive us, oh my God, oh God, for God’s sake, please Lord). | profanity glossary |

Society of the Snow SUBSTANCE USE

 – Men smoke cigarettes, one man smokes inside a hospital, and a suitcase is shown full of cigarette cartons. A couple of suitcases contain a bottle of rum each, a man drinks from a bottle of rum in a couple of scenes, a man drinks from a small unlabeled bottle (the contents are unknown), several men in a cafe drink from glasses of amber liquor and one man spills his drink.

Society of the Snow DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Disasters, the benefits of sports training, resourcefulness, death, loss, grief, guilt, abandonment, survival, starvation, infected injuries, cannibalism, responsibility, optimism, despair, Catholic guilt, humanism, leadership, teamwork, heroes, sacrificing self for others, saving victims of disaster, remembering the dead, faith, belief, love, friendship.

Society of the Snow MESSAGE

 – Catastrophe can reveal your level of courage, and we all should help each other.