MovieChat Forums > 127 Hours (2011) Discussion > Be honest, could you have done what he d...

Be honest, could you have done what he did?


Even if dying slowly from dehydration/starvation probably would have been worse in the long run, AND I would be dead, I still think I wouldn't have the balls to amputate my arm.

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I doubt I'd have been able to cut off my arm, but then I've never been in a situation like that. Will to survive can kick in pretty strong when faced with life or death situations though. If you knew you could break your arm and cut it off and live it might give you the energy you need to actually do it.

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Reality is subjective.

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There are actually two aspects to what he did that were amazing. It's not just that he had the bravery and pain tolerance to hurt himself like that. It's also that he figured out how to do it, with only the dull blade of a multi-tool--and, I should add, to do it competently enough that he wouldn't just bleed to death on the spot. He was an engineer, but he wasn't a doctor or medic.

Ralston apparently had the bravery before he had the knowledge. He thought of amputating his arm early on in the ordeal, and if his memoir was truthful, what kept him from doing it until the sixth day wasn't his fear of the pain, it was his inability to think up a way to get the blade to cut through bone.

As for me? I'm a total chicken when it comes to pain, and I certainly haven't a clue how to perform a medical operation of any sort. That said, nobody really knows how they'll behave in an emergency until they find themselves in it. People have been known to surprise themselves.

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NO I would have literally $hit myself within the first 10 minutes, I would have used all the water in few hours and slit my throat by second day lol.

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Liverpool: LOL! I would do the same! Drink all the water in a few hours...HAHAHA!

Last week I had a sliver under my fingernail and had to use tweezers to yank it out. I screamed like a banshee and writhed around for a while and cried a little. So I doubt I could ever do what he did...

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I don't think so. Maybe I would tried and than thought it was to much pain to handle.

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I didn't see the movie cause it was capitalize on just that one part of his story and of course, the most important part. My question is after seeing the trailer, where he is shown in that ravine or pit or whatever it was called, how was he saved? Did he climb out and how could he with one arm? Was there anyone near him to help me out?

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Since I would have a knife, I'd slit my wrist and just bleed out. Yes I would probably rather die than go though what he did.

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I actually wondered that the entire time I was watching this movie. I think I would be able to do it, but I would definitely put off until the absolute last minute possible. That would be, and probably was, a terrifying ordeal to go through. And painful. EXTREMELY painful.
I've never really had a problem with pain. I'm one of those people that, if I have a splinter, I just rip it out so I can get it over with. I think I could break my arm and cut it off, but bleeding out before I found help would scare me more than anything.
It's incredible, what he did. I hope that I never have to go through what he did.

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[deleted]

Dude if you actually managed to get your shlong trapped like Aron did, I'll fly over from Holland and try to find you, just to slap you in the face.

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As it takes minuets to bleed out from something like that, im amassed that someone would actually survive from it...

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