‘Society of the Snow’ Director Explains How a Famous Survival Story Was Finally Depicted ‘Using Real Names’

A 1972 plane crash in the Andes mountains has been the inspiration for films (1993’s “Alive”), several documentaries and TV series (including “Yellowjackets”).

But director J.A. Bayona’s “Society in the Snow” (Netflix), based on a celebrated non-fiction book, is the most faithful adaptation of the story. Bayona, in his first Spanish language movie since his breakout “The Orphanage” (2007), cast actors mostly from the region to play members of a Uruguayan rugby team, 16 of whom (out of 45 plane passengers and crew) survived amid frozen temperatures, avalanches and starvation.

Since his debut film, Bayona has also directed “The Impossible,” starring Naomi Watts and Tom Holland; “A Monster Calls”; and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.”