As snow level plunges in Andes, ski resorts and movies get creative

New film shows how climate change has affected South America.

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A still from the movie ‘Society of the Snow,’ depicting the 1972 plane crash site known as the Valley Tears in the Andes. Photo: Quim Vives/Netflix.

SANTIAGO de CHILE (Callaway Climate Insights — When Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona set out to film “Society of the Snow,” he wanted it to seem as real-life as possible to the actual events that took place 50 years ago when a plane carrying 45 Uruguayan rugby players and crew crash landed on a glacier between Argentina and Chile.

So, he decided to film the Oscar-nominated movie on sight in the Andes. The problem was that there was no longer enough snow. The glacier in the Valley of Tears has shrunk by 60% over the past 50 years due to climate change and global warming. He therefore adjusted the filming to a nearby location and date where he could film in snow.

To anyone who has seen the film, it is a brilliant depiction of not just the crash but the aftermath when survivors are faced with the decision whether or not to eat their dead teammates, knowing that doing so could mean their own death or survival. The 1993 film “Alive,” starring Ethan Hawke, is also about the same crash, and is filmed in the mountains of Canada. In my opinion, “Society of the Snow” is much better and packs more human element into the plot.

If the same crash happened today, the plane would have crash landed in dirt and rocks, probably killing everyone on board. It would not have been cushioned by snow.