Self Mutilation Can Be a Good Thing


In 94 minutes, I experienced 127 Hours of Aron Ralston’s life through a camera fixated on James Franco’s face.  Danny Boyle directed this movie that is up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  It’s about a man named Aron Ralston who is climbing through a canyon filled landscape and ends up with his arm pinned between a rock and a hard place.

I have to say, James Franco’s performance was amazing.  As much as I like Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network, I feel like Franco did a better job portraying a man in a dire situation.  You felt the pain, the insanity, and the turmoil through what Franco expressed.  This is one of the few films that can actually cause me pain while I watch it, and I respect 127 Hours for that.

Dwayne Johnson also did an excellent job in this film, keeping Aron Ralston’s arm against that canyon wall.  The strength he exerted through the film showed how he has developed as an actor.  I don’t know anybody else who could have played the rock as well as Dwayne Johnson.  Perfect casting choice for the film.

The music was...music to my ears.  Sure, all music is music to your ears, but this was more than just a radio friendly song.  The song played at the beginning of the film caused me to delay watching the rest of the film for about twenty minutes while I attempted to find a way to get that song.  About halfway through the film there was a song that made me feel that I should donate money to a child living in a third world country.  Strangely, neither song took me completely out of the film.  They heightened the emotional level that the film was getting to.

This is definitely one of my favourite films of the year.  The only problem I had was the underuse of Lizzy Caplan.  She brought some presence to the character she played but she didn’t get any lines and was only in the film for twenty three seconds.  On my flickchart, 127 Hours is right below Snatch and right above I Love You Man, in the 246 spot.  My Flickchart still seems to be off.  But that’s how it sits right now.

I completed my goal of watching all of the best picture nominees before the Academy Awards by watching this film.  I have now seen all ten nominees.

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