127 Hours

How far would you go to save your own life? How resourceful could you be in a time of crisis? How strong do you think you really are?

These are the sorts of questions you'll probably ask yourself after seeing 127 Hours. I certainly did, and I'm still not sure I have the answers.

Based on real events that occurred in 2003, 127 Hours stars James Franco as Aron Ralston. He's a free spirit who loves adventure and doesn't like rules or being tied down to other people or responsibilities.

He's the type of guy who'll just take off at a moment's notice to spend lots of time in remote places alone. One weekend he sets off for a national park in the desert state of Utah. After showing two female walkers an underground pool, he continues his journey through the steep slopes and rocky canyons.

He falls and finds himself trapped in a gorge, his arm crushed by a boulder. There's no one to help, no one knows where he is, and Aron has very few items at his disposal to help him get free.

You might think that a movie about a man trapped under a rock would not make for a riveting or terribly visual movie, but luckily the director of 127 Hours is the wildly energetic Danny Boyle. The Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire director has delivered a movie that's high on action, devoid of sentimentality and rather uncompromising in its resolution.

He zips the camera just about everywhere - from panoramic heights to the inside of water bottles and human limbs. There are lots of fast edits and lots of music.

(If you'd like to know how Plastic Bertrand's 70's disco classic "Ca Plane Pour Moi" manages to make an appearance in a flick about a trapped mountain climber, you should hurry up and purchase a ticket.)

But as visually entertaining as it is, 127 Hours is not some empty-headed exercise in whiz-bang, gross-out cinema. Aron's plight is astounding and presented in a very thoughtful and confronting manner.

The film refuses to take a predictable or cliched path. Boyle and Simon Beaufoy's script doesn't go too far into Aron's personality. He doesn't have some heart-warming moment of redemption or make some tearful pact with God.

The film is relatively sparse with recounting his backstory, and what is presented is done in a clever and imaginative fashion.

127 Hours is basically a one-man show, and James Franco does a terrific job portraying both the free-loving adventurer and the man on the edge driven to make a terrifying decision.

Franco has always been a very charming and likable performer, but this role gives him the chance to act this socks off, and he's impressive.

I don't normally give warnings to squeamish audience members. I think that it's your own fault if you can't handle what's up on the screen. But 127 Hours is so well done on many levels, and is being sold as some sort of drama filled with action and adventure, I feel compelled to let you know that the most crucial scene is more disturbing, and nerve-shredding than any horror film. It's going to stay in your mind.

I'm usually highly skeptical of films that claim to be "based on a true story". Most filmmakers refuse to let the facts get in the way of telling a good tale.

But Aron Ralston's experience is utterly compelling and in the hands of talented people like Danny Boyle and James Franco, he managed to get all my sympathy, empathy and respect.