Danny Boyle’s last film celebrated the filth and grime of Mumbai. The enterprising chaiwala, in pursuit of his childhood love, ended up taking Uncle Oscar home. Boyle is again part of the Oscar race…this time for a fine piece of cinematic experiment. It pits human spirit against the uncompromising, unrelenting force of nature. Nature as we have seldom known it. 127 Hours does not create a fantastic canvas of rain or hail, nor does it breathe life into the bounties of nature by panning the camera too close to accentuate the smallest particles that sustain life. As it sweeps over the dry, yellow, silent canyons of Colorado, it breathes life into the rocks and boulders that have made these devastating ravines some of the most beautiful, though one of the most feared, natural formations on the planet. The nooks, crannies and crevices are breathtakingly shot. American hiker/adventurer Aaron Ralston (James Franco) traverses these dangerous depths with the characteristic nonchalance of someone with many years behind him climbing rocks. Just that this time, the rocks decide to trap him and for good. From here on 127 Hours becomes a clear, concise and abridged guide to human survival. Ralston, his hand stuck against a boulder that has fallen into a crevice with just enough space for him to balance himself on the climbing rope, survives for five days, or 127 Hours, on a bottle of fast diminishing water, moisture from chewing his contact lenses, meager dinner (the last three days without dinner or lunch), a few yards of climbing ropes, some patience and lots of grit. Four days hence when the vitals start deteriorating and everything from the first steps on the canyon with his father, little sister playing his favourite tune on the piano, a zillion apologies to a doting mother, handycam recordings for family and friends and a phony act as a radio jockey (also for the handycam) have zoomed past his rapidly collapsing mind and feverish eyes, Ralston does what he had envisioned on the second day itself. He decides to live…even if he has to without his right hand. And how does he think he can do that? All he has is a Chinese multi-purpose knife which is of little help. Day five, Ralston must use the knife. And he does. Cutting through tissue and nerves, Ralston seems to be remarkably accurate.
Highlight of the film—James Franco. He is excruciatingly real. Moves from being a charmer to someone with incredible amount of guts with amazing ease. Beginning with his encounter with the girls out to have some fun on the boulders to gnawing at the tissues of his arm with a pen-knife, Franco is a delight to watch.
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