‘The snow society’, by JA Bayona, convinces at the closing of the Venice festival

The history of humanity is full of catastrophes. And that of the cinema, too. In life, obviously, it is preferable to avoid them. Towards the seventh art, however, they exert an enormous power of attraction: extreme emotions, nerves on the surface, tragedy and, sometimes, even episodes close to a miracle. It is difficult to explain in any other way the reunion of a family separated by the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia in 2004. So much so that director Juan Antonio Bayona ended up filming that story in The Impossible. And for decades the world has been wondering how 16 souls survived a plane crash in 1972 and an odd fight against nature at the top of the Andes. Two films have already attempted to offer answers. But the Spanish filmmaker wanted to propose his own version of it, which closed the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival yesterday Saturday. A challenge of a certain height. Same as the result, according to the first Spanish and international reviews. Not for nothing is it also among the three shortlisted by the Film Academy to participate in the Oscars.

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There is no director like Bayona in Spain. To no one else would Hollywood entrust the large budget and responsibility of an installment of the Jurassic World franchise. It is difficult to imagine another national creator that Amazon would have signed for one of the most expensive and anticipated series in history, The Rings of Power. The very beginning of The Impossible proposed an overwhelming immersion among the waves, of ambition and cost unheard of for Spanish cinema. There is plenty of evidence to consider Bayona as a guarantee to handle enormous sequences with ease in the midst of calamities. The previous fears rather surrounded another aspect: the filmmaker’s temptation towards easy emotion. For such a moving true story. And by a few hints scattered throughout his previous filmography.

The snow society, in fact, surprises in many ways. Everything seems as credible as it is devastating. And claustrophobic. Also thanks to the book by Pablo Vierci, on which the film is based, and two successful choices by the Spanish author: in the middle of a disproportionate mountain range, and infinite spaces, Bayona often confines his film within the wreckage of the plane. Truth soaked in metaphor: a handful of men united, in the face of adversity. And the spectator, next to him. Even more so, since the filmmaker places the key to survival in the group. Only a few were able to get out of that hell, but it was also due to those who stayed along the way. Collective, daily and erratic fight, instead of the feat of a couple of heroes.

An image from ‘The Snow Society’ Quim Vives (Netflix)

Along with the protagonists, the emotions also end up enclosed in a more restrained space. Including cannibalism, key to the real story, but a minefield to narrate in the cinema. Only on a couple of occasions, though, does Bayona give in to excessive sentimentality. And, with it, dialogues and soundtrack. Forgivable, without a doubt. The frown is more, however, due to the choice of script regarding the voice that narrates the film. Trap or solid decision: there are arguments for both theories.

The first Spanish critics, in any case, have found above all virtues in The Snow Society. But the Venice festival has confirmed that the film press takes special care of its own. In Italy, in the USA and, of course, also in Spain. The reception has also been favorable in such prestigious media as Deadline or Variety. Both celebrate the balance and humanity of Bayona, something that is recognized even by less enthusiastic reviews, such as those of Screen Daily or CineEuropa, which also regret a 144-minute film. It happens, on the other hand, in almost all of today’s blockbusters. It may be another way to show that Bayona already plays in that same league.

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