MovieChat Forums > Alive (1993) Discussion > They forgot to include one important cha...

They forgot to include one important character.

posted 8 years ago by ash-61
2 replies | jump to latest

Sergio Catalán, the Chilean muleteer that found Canessa and Nando at the end of their journey looking for help. He helped them to contact the authorities and became like a second father to the survivors. In fact, they actually visit him (he's quite old now) EVERY year, because they admit that they could have never made it if Mr. Catalán hadn't found them.

If they ever make another film based on this story, I hope they do some justice to this kind man.

He dies at the end.

[–] palisade-1 8 years ago

If they ever make another film based on this story, I hope they do some justice to this kind man.

I doubt they "forgot" to include Catalan and his role in this film; it was surely a decision to end the film at the point of rescue, and they took some liberties with that (for example, the survivors were not surprised when the helicopters came; they heard news of Canessa and Nando's reaching help over their radio, and Canessa wasn't on the helicopter that flew to the wreck to airlift the survivors out). Catalan and their relationship with himover the years following is an inspiring story in itself.

However, the other films made about this story do include him to varying degrees:

I Am Alive (the History Channel documentary)

Stranded: I Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountain
(Gonzalo Arijon's documentary that includes each of the 16 survivors and relevant others, such as Sergio Catalan and his son, the male nurse who arrived on the rescue helicopter, Carlitos' father who was heavily involved in the search, etc.)

This one has an extended interview with Catalan and several short sections where he is featured.

Both are well done and add to our understanding of the characters and vents. You may be able to find them online.

[–] misschicken 8 years ago

In his book Pedro Algorta tells about his unannounced visit to Sergio Catalan's house. Catalan could hardly his joy and excitement. He took Pedro into the main room of the house and found that it was a museum of posters, photos and mementos of the Andes Survivors.