A Blurb about 127 Hours

One of those 'Oh crap' moments

    

    I liked this movie. I think it appealed to the single male outdoorsy gear head loner in me. It makes me stop and think, 'there but for the grace of God go I'.  There have been numerous times I've gotten in the car and gone for a day trip hiking at the beach, or in the mountains by myself without actually telling someone where I was going. However, the difference between myself and Aron Ralston, played by James Franco, is that I usually shoot off a quick e-mail, or a cryptic text to a friend to give someone a clue as to my whereabouts. 
     I remember one time I broke the cardinal rule while hiking a local nature trail, and I stepped off the path to get closer to Eel Bay in The Thousand Islands.  It was early spring and the ground was water logged and a rock I used as a stepping stone went out from under me. In a heart beat I was at the bottom of a small ravine, flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me. It was sobering to think that I could have hit the back of my head on one of those rocks on the way down, and stayed there a lot longer than I did. As it was I went home with a tear in the bottom of my jeans to remind me of my foolhardiness.
     In 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle takes a Man vs Nature story and turns it into a Man vs Himself story. At first I was a little skeptical because I had recently seen James Franco in The Great and Powerful Oz. I was afraid he was going to be too charming and charismatic. Thankfully, Franco showed us his goofy awkward side, especially in the scenes when he meets up with the two female hikers. You could really see that they didn't know how to take him at first. 
     Franco is at his best as he slowly he realizes that he really could die out there, a fact that he remains in denial about even for a while after he becomes trapped by the boulder. We can see the fatigue and fear creeping in from the shadows and crevices of the rocks. His complexion becomes pale, and then more ashen as his time with the boulder clicks by.  Boyle does a great job of showing us the mental toll the ordeal is taking on Ralston, and the lengths to which Ralston was willing to go in order to save his own life. 
     Lesson learned. Below is a video clip I recently took when I went mountain climbing in the Catskills.

 
Preston Sinclair