Alive

I went to International Cinema with Nick tonight up in the SWKT...We watched Stranded. It's a documentary about the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed on their way to Chile, leaving them stranded in the Andes.

They lived for 72 days in the most severe, unthinkable, unimaginable conditions. They had more hope than I have ever seen - their determination to survive was inspiring and none of them were for selfish reasons. Their experience was sacred and as they spoke of it, there was this love and cherished feeling about it.

I can't tell the story well enough because the details make all the difference, but throughout the movie, many things stood out to me.

At one point, after they thought it couldn't get worse, an avalanche comes and buries them in the plane. They talk about this rush, the feeling as their bodies struggle to breathe under the pressure of tons of kilos of snow...but then they all, in their own way, relate how soon they began to accept what was happening and one of them said that it was something like a pleasure even, and that he wanted nothing more. They said every memory they had start flashing - hundreds of memories every second. It was amazing how they all talked about the peace they were feeling, but somehow only 8 of them died from the avalanche. I loved how they talked of the peace they felt and the pleasure that they found in going to the end.

At one point, three of them go out to the tail of the plane...a treacherous hike. One of them, Roberto, I believe, is recounting the story to his daughter as they sit in the same valley that had held him captive 30 years earlier. He says that the night they tried to climb was so cold and they could not find a ledge to sleep on. His pants were soaked and starting to freeze. They were sobbing. Then they managed to find a stable place and laid back - looking into the valley completely covered in snow. He said that at that moment he felt closer to God, even more so than he does now (as he is telling her his story). She asks him why she can't feel that close now and he tells her, well we've got sandwiches down there, transportation out right over there... What a testimony that in our utmost hardships and in the moment of final despair is when we feel closest to our Heavenly Father.

These men are heroes to me. I have such a respect and love for each of them. They made it through 72 days of freezing winter in the Andes. They each had their motivation for surviving. One of the survivors in the end said that they had become like a 16 celled living organism and that everyone was so united and did everything in harmony. I was amazed at the spirit that I felt as I watched it. When I tell people that I saw Stranded, they are just like oh isn't that the one where the eat each other and kind of joke about it - but you can't say anything until you see it. The pain it was to recount it yet the reverence they looked back on it with.

I am so grateful for my life.