Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
Summary:
Saturday morning of April 26th, 2003 and Aron is Mountain Hiking a Dirt road of the Grand Canyon. He states that normally he wouldn’t be carrying 25 pounds of equipment but its only because he’s doing a 30 mile long circuit, then he begins stating the kind of equipment that he is carrying “three locking carabiners, two regular carabiners, a lightweight combination belay and rappel device, two tied slings of half-inch webbing, a longer length of half-inch webbing with ten prestitched loops called a daisy chain, my climbing harness…” (Ralston 14). He begins to hike and comes in between little drops no more than 20 feet high. He meets up with this one drop that has a boulder the size or a large bus tire, after a few examinations to prove that if he holds on to it that it will hold his weight, it passes so he goes for the move. Half way into it that rock moves from its normal position and starts to fall towards his head, his first instinct was to cover this head with his arms but the boulder just takes him with it. Time slows down as he falls and so do his reactions to it. At the end of it all his right hand is jammed in between the rock and the canyon wall. Aron starts by having flashbacks of times were he planned climbing trips and how he had created a list of mountains over a certain altitude and how he climbed about 50 of those mountains in 2002. He shares the story of the best climb that he had which was Conundrum Basin because he skied down it and went back to the natural hot springs that was at 11,200 feet above sea level. 50 hours of him trapped have passed and he has half of the water bottle full and he decides to drink his urine to see if it’s drinkable. He states “The sharp saltiness is repugnantly tangy and bitter. My face wrinkles into a knot. Surprisingly, it’s not as horrible as it could be—I don’t gag or puke” (Ralston 76). Stories of the search that his family was doing are shared. For example, when Arons’ mom cracks the password to Aron’s email account to see if any of the latest emails can lead them to finding Aron. 120 hours or 6 days have passed and the idea of amputating his arm comes to mind, he follows the idea and starts cutting his arm with the pocket knife that he had. While cutting his arms he finds nerves that he has to cut that also send excruciating pain that is unavoidable. By 40 minutes of cutting he is free, and walks about 6 miles and meets up with a family that was hiking the canyon. The family supplies Aron with two Oreos and a bottle of water and also call up for rescue.
Quotation:
“The next three seconds play out at a tenth of their normal speed. Time dilates, as if I’m dreaming, and my reactions decelerate. In slow motion: The rock smashes my left hand against the south wall; my eyes register the collision, and I yank my left arm back as the rock ricochets; the boulder then crushes my right hand and ensnares my right arm at the wrist, palm in, thumb up, fingers extended; the rock slides another foot down the wall with my arm in tow, tearing the skin off the lateral side of my forearm. Then silence.”(Ralston 36).
Reaction:
This quote just caught my view once I read it. I just find it amazing how time slows down when he’s falling down so he experiences the fall with more detail, though his reactions also slow down he still was not able to do anything. At the end of it all this drama his hand was stuck between a rock and the Canyon wall or as some may call it “the Hard Place” which is on the title of the book.
Film title/Release Year:
127 hours, 2010
Director/Adapted by:
Danny Boyle, Aron Ralston
Main Characters Actors
| Aron Ralston | James Franco |
| Kristi | Kate Mara |
| Megan | Amber Tamblyn |
| Aron’s Mom | Kate Burton |
Film Techniques Example
| Long Shot | 1. While Aron prepares his hiking tools in the house. |
| Point of view shot | 1. While Aron drives he makes eye contact with a cyclist. 2. As Aron runs down the hill to help the two girls that seemed lost. |
| Establishing Shot/Pan | 1. As Aron cycles the dirt road it shows the environment and at the same time that camera pans. |
| High angle shot | 1. When Aron fell of his bike, the camera looked down at him. |
| Track/Dolly | 1. When Aron is stuck with the rock, the camera moves away from him as he screams for help. |
| Montage | 1. As Aron tries to chip away the rock with the pocket knife that he has. |
| Close up | 1. Every time Aron did a video so incase he died he would leave it behind |
Additions/subtractions:
· The title of the film was not shown until 20 minutes after because it was when he got stuck with the rock.
The vivid pictures that were described in the book are shown on the movie.
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