Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993 TAG: 9301160282
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
`ALIVE' DESERVES TO BE BETTER
"Alive" is a grim, visually spectacular film about human survival.One part of this true story - cannibalism - has so overshadowed the rest that many viewers probably don't know how much more there is to it. There's a lot, and much of it is hard to take.
The basis is Piers Paul Read's non-fiction best-seller about a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes. John Patrick Shanley's ("Moonstruck") script follows the standard Hollywood formula. Frank Marshall's direction is equally straightforward and competent. So is the acting. But a story as serious and bizarre as this deserves better.
It begins with John Malkovich describing what happened to him 20 years before; how he recognized God in the mountains. Flash back to the flight in 1972. Some good special effects recreate the unusual crash itself, but the audience doesn't know which of these young characters will grow up to be Malkovich.
The team captain, Antonio (Vincent Spano), takes over as leader almost immediately. Nando (Ethan Hawke), traveling with his mother and sister, is knocked out in the crash.
The details of the group's survival - who lived, who didn't and how they died - are the point here, and it wouldn't be fair to reveal anything. The film makes neither too much nor too little of the cannibalism. It was one decision among several that they had to make.
The main problem is that the situation is so bleak and oppressive it's almost impossible to maintain the intensity level that the film demands. And the attempts at comic relief ring hollow.
Overall, the production looks good; it was filmed in British Columbia. And everyone involved seems to have given their best effort, but this material simply does not lend itself to popular entertainment.
Alive: **1/2 A Touchstone release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mall 6. Rated R for subject matter, strong language. 122 min.