The Shocking True Story Behind Netflix’s ‘Society of the Snow’

Got aviophobia? Then you may want to skip this one. The new Netflix thriller Society of the Snow follows a group of 16 people who survive a plane crash in the Andes mountains and must resort to desperate measures to stay alive.

Directed by J.A. Bayona, the movie hit the streaming giant on January 4, 2024 after a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on December 23, 2023.

Society of the Snow has garnered positive reception upon its wide release, reportedly outperforming Maestro and May December.

Decider’s John Serba wrote in his review, “[Bayona] bolsters the story with considerable visual acumen, a foreboding sense of scale and setting, and his ability to craft sequences of significant dramatic intensity.”

With all eyes on this dark movie, many are wondering if it’s based on a true story. Here’s everything you need to know about the inspirations behind Society of the Snow.

Is Society of the Snow a True Story?

Yes. The new Netflix movie is based on a harrowing true story that includes a frightful plane crash, cannibalism, and a grandiose fight for survival. Society of the Snow tells the true story of the 1972 Andes flight disaster, using Uruguayan journalist Pablo Vierci’s 2023 book of the same name as inspiration. The 1993 movie Alive, which starred Ethan Hawke and Josh Hamilton, also used the same incident as its inspiration.

On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was enroute from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, when poor weather conditions forced them to land in Mendoza, Argentina overnight. The following morning, roughly an hour after takeoff, the plane crashed in the Andes mountains. The flight was carrying 45 people, including 19 members of a rugby team.

12 people died immediately, including the pilot.

The survivors created a shelter out of the plane wreckage and rationed the food and wine they found onboard, which only lasted them about a week, reported by TIME.

Flight 571 survivor Roberto Canessa, portrayed by Matías Recalt in the movie, spoke with TIME about resorting to cannibalism after going an extended amount of time without food. “You are eating a dead person and the person is your friend and you wonder, ‘Should I do this? Or should I let myself die?” he said. “But I have seen how mothers cry when they lose their sons and I didn’t want my mother to go through that. I realized that when you have a reason for doing something, nothing stops you.”

The survivors were stranded for 72 days and battled hardships like extreme weather exposure, starvation, and back-to-back avalanches. Several search missions occurred at the time of the crash, but they were called off around Day 10 after the survivors were presumed to be dead. 

By the time of the rescue on December 23, 1972, there were only 16 survivors. 

Society of the Snow follows the perspective of rugby player Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic Roldán) and documents the events that played out from the day the rugby team left for the match up until the eventual rescue.

While speaking with Netflix, Bayona said that he and his creative team spoke with the victim’s families and survivors while creating the movie. “The survivors were instrumental. Their enthusiasm fueled the film and my perspective.. It was essential for the [actors] to connect with the survivors and the other families,” he shared.

In the same interview, Canessa told Netflix that the actor portraying him in the movie visited him at his house and workplace. “The other actors [playing] my friends that died… [we told] them how our friends were,” Canessa said.

There you have it. Given the hardships the movie depicts, you may not want Society of the Snow to be based on a true story, but it is.

Society of the Snow is currently streaming on Netflix.