127 Hours

Hollywood loves true stories; nay, they are obsessed with true stories. From a primarily marketing standpoint, you want to be able to paste on the poster "based on a true story" or something similar: "based on actual events" or even "inspired by a true story." Slap that on and Average Joe raises an eyebrow and asks "really?" Now I could be speaking entirely out of line here, but it seems like an old trick used to mask Hollwood's inability to be original. That being said, there are lots of great, original ideas and movies coming from the machine, but when you are in a year where there are more sequels being released than any year that has passed so far, it's a pretty fair statement. Factor in all the movies that are based on something else - like the Smurfs movie, based on the original television series - and you get even less "original content."

I could go into more on originality but will save that for another post, as I want to focus on one sub sect of the greater matter: deriving originality from true events. 127 Hours is based on a book, which is based on true events. Indeed, the story of Aron Rolston becoming trapped by a boulder, and utilizing the will to live through a grotesque escape did actually happen. He then wrote a book about it, Hollywood picked it up, and in this case, they turned it into a fantastic, character-rich film that didn't even necessitate the "based on true events" title card at the beginning of the film.

Every movie that is based on actual events forces the viewer to step back and watch the film from a different perspective: the entire time, you are questioning the facts. Unless, the movie pulls a fast one over you and doesn't tell you it's origins until the very end, which is always a bit of a hard slap on the back, knocking you forward and presumably making you want to see it over again from the proper perspective. We are trying to disseminate what we are watching, and wondering the entire time where Hollywood has strayed off and took dramatic license. Regardless, we always go back after the movie and instead of talking about the characters, plot and themes with our friends, we discuss what may have been true, and what may not have been. We research the "actual event" and sometimes, left with a bad taste.

In other cases, such as 127 Hours, I'm left even more amazed. There is one quote from Ralston which to summarize, basically says this movie is so accurate, that I can draw the conclusion that Danny Boyle perfected the set to match the actual location. Indeed, Franco has come out saying that he grew claustrophobic after extended periods of filming. Imagine spending north of a hundred hours in a cramped space, with only yourself to keep you company; it seems that Franco was able to pull this from the source material and delivered a great performance.

I feel like 127 Hours transcends the "based on actual events" stigma as I recall the events as they happened. It was all over the news and I had interest in the book (but would never pick it up). Curious, if this was my first exposure to Ralston's story, that I would have perceived the film differently. If you didn't see any of the trailers, marketing or Internet blurbs about the true story behind the film, would the movie be better, worse, or simply just different?

Regardless, what Ralston did was absolutely amazing, and terrifying. Could you do it? That's the question you walk away from, and for me, I'm going to have to say I wouldn't. Honestly though, I think it's one of those situations where you just don't know until you live it. As you begin to hallucinate, and dream of your loved ones, you may find yourself making the leap for the impossible. One of the things I wanted to circle back on was original content: while there is nothing particularly wrong with basing movies off actual events, I think Hollywood takes a mallet and beats the actual story into a pulp - injected with pure fiction - and leaves us with a mass that has lost something. There are a lot of good stories out there from interesting people, 127 Hours is one of them, and are worth telling. They don't need to be injected with gimmicks to make them more entertaining, they just need to be told in the right way. 127 Hours nails it.