Anyone familiar with my stuff already knows that I am a big fan of films that are at least based on actual events. The real-life person depicted in this movie by James Franco (his name is Aron Ralston) has stated that with the exception of one or two minor details, the film is completely true-to-life.

Aron Ralston is a free-spirited mountaineer and overall lover of nature. One day he decides to go biking and exploring in a national park in Utah. He finds an area he has not yet explored in his previous visits to the park and decides to climb down. He stumbles and loosens a large bolder which crashes on his right arm, trapping him. He tries calling out for help only to realize that he is hopelessly alone.

Being quite the naturalist, he uses the few tools he has at his disposal in an attempt to free himself from this position including chipping away at the rock and also a futile attempt to make some sort of level to move the boulder. During all of this he is keeping a video diary because, you know, pics or it didn't happen.

As time passes (bet you can't guess how much time in total!) he starts to reflect on all the dumb decisions he made in order to end up in this predicament such as not telling anyone where he was going and that his own adventurous lifestyle is the reason why it is unlikely he is going to be found. Days pass and he starts to hallucinate especially once he starts to run out of water and is subjected to consuming his own urine to survive.

He eventually decides that cutting his own arm off is the only way out. However, he realizes that the blade is not sharp enough to cut through bone and has to make some pretty gruesome decisions along the way. This is where the movie becomes a bit difficult to watch and Aron (James Franco) doesn't even cry out in pain much. Aron Ralston insists that this is an accurate depiction of what actually happened.

This film was nominated for a bunch of awards including "best actor" at the Oscars. I truly felt as though Franco deserved this nomination (he didn't win) because any accomplished actor will tell you that acting on your own is far more difficult than acting with other people. Just ask Tom Hanks about "Castaway."

I also wonder how the producers and script writers must have toiled over how they were going to turn something such as one person being trapped by a boulder into a 1.5 hour movie. I guess I am not creative enough because I probably would have said "we can't" and that would have been it. However, this ended up being an extraordinary tale of courage that stays entertaining from start to finish.

9 / 10