“The Snow Circle” by Juan Antonio Bayona looks back on the plane crash of a team of rugby players in the Andes Mountains. The cases of cannibalism which resulted from this tragedy have never been brought to justice. Explanations.
In 1972, a young Uruguayan rugby team saw their plane crash in the Andes Mountains. Of the 45 passengers, 17 died during the impact, the others had to survive for more than two months in extreme conditions. Sixteen people will come out of this nightmare alive. This story is told in the film by Juan Antonio Bayona, The Circle of Snows – AlloCiné shares its opinion with you here.
The exceptional nature of this plane accident is based, among other things, on the proven cases of cannibalism. To avoid starving, the survivors had to eat the bodies of the deceased passengers. Le Cercle des neiges chooses to focus mainly on the accident and the two months of survival, leaving aside the aftermath, namely how these acts of cannibalism were received by public opinion.
When the survivors are found, rumors of cannibalism hover over the tragedy. This rumor was finally confirmed during a press conference held in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, on December 28, 1972, six days after the survivors’ return. Some of them reveal that they had no choice but to eat the bodies to satisfy hunger.
RELIGION AND MEDICINE
During this press conference, religious comparisons are used to justify the actions. First of all because most of the survivors are Catholic, but also to try to get people to accept a terrifying truth. Thus, they take as an example the Last Supper – or the last meal of Jesus Christ, the day before his crucifixion.
“When we lacked food, we thought of Jesus and how, at The Last Supper, he gave His body and blood to the Apostles“, reveals one of the survivors Eduardo Delgrado as reported this article from the New York Times published in 1972.
While some choose religion, others turn to medicine. Thus, cannibalism has also been compared to a “heart transplant“. At that time, the practice was still new – the first was carried out in 1967 – and the subject remained taboo. But it was a question of everyone giving meaning to their actions.
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In an interview with AlloCiné, director Juan Antonio Bayona explains that former survivors continue to use these two comparisons today, recalling the narrow limit between reason and what nature and the body require to survive.
Given the exceptional circumstances, the survivors were not tried. On December 28, 1972, representatives of the Archdiocese of New York defended them, saying that the survivors had acted “justified way“. Finally, the Chilean and Uruguayan Churches, as well as Pope Paul VI, granted absolution to the survivors.
The Snow Circle is available on Netflix.