'127 hours' not what one expects

I entered the theater thinking I knew what I was in for. After all, the film's title was obvious — "127 Hours," referring to the duration of 27-year-old mountain climber Aron Ralston's ordeal while stuck in an isolated slot canyon in Utah, his arm pinned under an 800-pound rock. Having been a big fan of the Drama in Real Life section of Reader's Digest, this was exactly the kind of story I enjoyed. The film begins by showing Ralston as he prepares to head out for Bluejohn Canyon, evidently not a novice as he quickly packs his things. Clearly evident also were his eagerness and recklessness as he leaves behind his Swiss knife. Alone but perfectly happy, he navigates the canyon confidently, even taking the time to show off to a couple of female hikers.

When he falls off his mountain bike, it's no biggie - he takes a photo of himself before picking himself up and brushing the dirt off. Carefree and elated, he sets out to conquer the canyon, jumping and free-climbing, occasionally using a rope. Little does he know that he will later use his video camera to record his farewell message, and his climbing rope to fashion a complicated yet ineffective pulley system that will fail to free his right arm from a falling boulder. The situation didn't seem so bad at first but after Ralston's arm was pinned under the boulder, the audience got an inkling that the story was about to get worse. It does, of course. James Franco, who plays Ralston, does an excellent job of keeping the audience with him. Despite the unlikely success of an action movie where the hero can't move, Franco's portrayal and director Danny Boyle's dynamic first-person narrative makes the film powerful and poignant as well. Ralston is trapped, and the audience is trapped with him. As he tries to free himself — barely managing with only a liter of water, two burritos, and a few pieces of chocolate — the audience feels his pain. More than the physical obstacle, the real movement is the emotional journey. As Ralston battles nature, he battles himself, pulling memories from the past as well as his seemingly lost future. Left with no one but himself, he reflects on his past. The recurring themes in his mind are his parents, his ex-girlfriend, played by Clémence Poésy, and the last two people to see him alive - the couple of female hikers played by Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara. However, the most striking image that kept him going was his vision of a young boy. Strengthened by this glimpse into the future, he did everything and eventually succeeded in escaping his rocky prison. He lived to find out that his vision was actually a premonition: the young boy he saw was his son. Completing his mission After the accident, and with a prosthetic arm, Ralston went on to complete his mission to conquer "the Fourteeners" or mountains that are over 14,000 feet in height. Later, he met his wife Jessica. Earlier this year, she gave birth to a baby boy named Leo. Ralston went on to write his memoir "Between a Rock and Hard Place," the basis for the film "127 Hours" that details his excruciating six-day struggle at the Bluejohn Canyon. While the story is inspiring, the film doesn't resort to sentimentality. There is no "romanticizing" in Franco's portrayal. After all, the situation wasn't particularly romantic, particularly not when he eventually has to drink his own urine or cut his own arm off with a blunt knife. These scenes are, of course, the most shocking and unforgettable parts of the film. They were agonizing yet at the same time, somehow poetic, and wonderfully scored. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about Ralston but his character charms the audience. While it could be argued that he was to blame for his predicament, his no-nonsense, easygoing manner wins the audience, who feel an urge to want him to succeed. While trapped in the canyon, he reaches out to his loved ones, few as they may be, through his camera. His memories, and also his dreams, are what sustain him despite his dire situation. In the end, when Ralston is free, the audience celebrates with him because it isn't just about him after all. Apart from Franco’s impressive portrayal of Ralston, Boyle’s treatment of the story involves the audience on a deeper level. While Boyle is more closely associated with “Slumdog Millionaire," his Oscar-winning last film, “127 Hours" reminded me more of the 1996 film “Trainspotting" based on the book by Irvine Welsh. In the same way that “Trainspotting" brought the audience close to the drug-dependent characters, “127 Hours" places the audience with Ralston. Contrary to what I first thought, this isn’t just another against-all-odds success story. Its message can be found buried in the opening sequence of “Trainspotting." Choose your future. Choose life. – VVP, GMA News