An accident that has never been forgotten. On January 4, 2024, Netflix unveiled the film The circle of snow, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. This is an adaptation of the novel The snow societyby Pablo Vierci, published in 2009 by Grijalbo Mondadori. The feature film tells a story that took place on the afternoon of October 13, 1972. That day, a team of Uruguayan rugby players from Montevideo, the Old Christians, boarded the Fairchild F-227 to travel to Santiago, Chile. The flight took a tragic turn, as the plane crashed in the heart of the Andes, at an altitude of more than 3,500 m. Only sixteen people out of the forty-five passengers survived. For 72 days, the survivors will try to survive, facing many difficulties. Cut off from the world, they also have nothing to keep warm or eat. To get out of it, they went so far as to do the unthinkable: eat the flesh of their comrades. An act of cannibalism which may surprise more than one, but which allowed them to stay alive.
Fernando Parrado: one of the survivors participated in the making of the film
Fernando Parrado, one of the 16 survivors, was 21 years old at the time of the incident. Following the plane crash, he suffered a head injury. He spent three days in a coma, leaving his friends to think he was dead. Nicknamed “Nando”, he woke up and walked for ten days, alongside Roberto Canessa, through the mountains. After more than 100 kilometers on foot, both managed to find help, also saving their comrades. For the production of this feature film, Juan Antonio Bayona called on Fernando Parrado. “I don’t feel the need to share my story, but people keep asking me. It’s engraved in my flesh, I’m a survivor,” entrusted the survivor to HuffPostSunday January 7, 2024. “You only live once, and because of this tragedy, I decided that the second part of my life was going to be memorable. And being part of this project was exciting.”, he concluded. Now 71 years old, Fernando Parrado gives lectures to tell his story.