Aron Ralston’s story cannot but leave you untouched somewhere deep inside. 127 hours is an attempt to tell that story in the form of a movie, and it is magnificent. The movie takes you along with Aron as he does all the things that lead to his fateful entrapment in the Blue John Canyon; it connects you with Aron, ignites a compassion for him, as good art must do. The only thing I would say about the movie is that you should watch it. This is not meant to be a review of the movie, how well it was directed or how taut the screenplay was etc. It should suffice to say that everything about the movie had the stamp of class, the assured work of artists at their creative zenith.
I wish to explore the story itself, and try to understand it better. Aron was an experienced mountaineer, a man who left his job to pursue his passion for mountain climbing. His confessions in the movie as well as some cursory research on the web show that it did not just give him a kick but also helped him feel less insecure and anxious, gave him a unique identity he craved. He used to be self-centered, a loner by choice, someone not quite sure what life meant to him. He was a fine guy, just a little lost. The great American dream probably left him in the lurch, as it continues to do to young people enamoured of its great materialistic benefits not just in America but all over the world where pernicious American influence has struck at the root. The problem with the dream is not so much what it represents but what it leaves out. By emphasizing the individual and his achievements and underestimating the value of love, compassion and community, it creates a rift so deep that someone falling in it has little chance of getting out. Such a society creates habitual neurotics, driven by a mad need to get ahead lest they be left behind. It is not difficult to see how people caught up in such a situation should feel worthless and agitated about their existence. Isn’t this happening in the cities of India too, among the ambitious middles classes clamouring to squeeze ahead of their neighbours and peers, with little knowledge of the price that would have to be paid? The irony is that this is the land that has for millennia known how to live with change and somehow retain its basic characteristics, succeeded in absorbing the forces that threatened to tear the fabric of continuity apart. Perhaps I am worrying without a reason, and the Indian soul still retains its timelessness. I hope I am wrong on that count, but all evidence around suggests otherwise.
But back to Aron’s story now. So he went through different stages that having to survive in the face of grave danger takes you through. He panicked first, feverishly trying to get himself free. Then he saw the futility of it and tried to think a way out of it, marshalling carefully all that he had to maximize their utility. But he could not get free quickly enough, and dark thoughts must have gone through his mind. He probably remembered all the good times, his parents and loved ones. Then he saw how he had been with others; it is amazing how little attention we pay to how we are when we are busy living our lives. Self-criticism is all too difficult for people I suppose, while the inertia of habit is easy to maintain. He realized he had been insensitive, uncaring and thankless, all because he was so self-centered. The love of his parents and others probably made him go on, and helped him see clearly in that narrow, dim canyon what really matters. Of course, the survival instinct, the spirit of life made him endure as well, but it was the power of love that carried him through. It is through such experiences that humans learn about life. The only truth that exists in this world has love underlying it. Philosophical discourses on the meaning of life will never get us to the truth; the only way we are going to understand something is by living and trading in love. So what does it mean to be famous and have so much money? Nothing if you have no love. And it is not just love for people that love exists, but also for what you do. If Aron still continues to hike and climb, it is because he loves everything about it, and no longer needs to prove to himself that he’s worth his existence. It is something I can identify with very closely too.
