Alive: Human Resilience in the Andes Plane Crash

The movie "Alive" is a shocking true story of an Uruguayan Rugby Team that crashed their plane in
the middle of the Andes mountains. The Uruguayan plane crash carrying 45 passengers to Chile
unfortunately resulted only with the survival of 16 students. Through a traumatic shocking experience,
the movie reenacts the event of the crash. This movie demonstrates various examples of the
importance of psychological and physiological needs in our daily lives. It also outlines how the
survivors had to accomplish particular essential needs in order to ensure their physiological and
psychological health.

The movie "Alive" is a fascinating story that demonstrates heroism and faith through a team mainly
consisted of teenage boys. In addition, this movie emphasizes and displays the perseverance and
interminable will to survive and pull through together by manipulating different tools and objects to
meet their needs. This remarkable movie provides many examples and insights for the vital needs
that were met by various characters. It is well known that without the 4 basic human needs of
excitement, affection, recognition and security; one cannot be psychologically sound or stable.

In this movie; the psychological need of excitement is displayed where Rafael, Juan and Zerbino
diverge from their usual routine and slide down the mountains after finding the tail end of the plane.
They strived to find excitement on a small scale even in the horrific situation that they were placed in.
The act of bonding, support and cooperation such as peer encouragement, hugs and optimistic
discussion displayed acts of affection and recognition. The affection was widely spread through the
kind words and caring actions, while recognition was also demonstrated by peer praise for logical and
helpful suggestions.

Such example is shown when Canessa praises Carlitos for the suggestion to use the plane seats to
walk around the snow and the seat covers to use as blankets. The survivors create positive feelings
and self esteem to make each other feel valued and respected. As a result, the positive environment
in the team allow themselves to feel accepted and appreciated. In addition, the effort to make a warm
environment for everyone in the plane demonstrated the act of law/rules. The team were able to
achieve familiarity with each other and practiced a somewhat predictable routine throughout the day.

Each character acquired a certain role or job (such as examining the wounded, distributing food, etc)
during the day which gave a sense of comfort and security to the team. These 4 psychological needs
are equally essential to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs are equally
essential to the 4 psychological needs for survival in the movie "Alive". For hydration, the team had
wine and the invention of a contraption that converted snow into water. Oxygen, rations of chocolate
and the flesh of the deceased for food met the physiological part of needs.

The team rationed their resources fairly to ensure that there would be sufficient resources for every
individual. Safety needs were also met when Antonio (the captain of the team), Canessa and Carlitos
put themselves in charge of the team and were able to take over and position things in order. This
provided safety and protection to the team as it brought certainty and stability to the group. The need
of love is displayed throughout different scenes of the movie; for instance when Alberto and Federico
are bonding on the hammock.

The act of love is shown when Federico looks after Alberto although they are both badly injured and
he encourages Canessa to take care of Alberto instead of himself. Furthermore, Nando taking care of
his wounded sister Susana and Canessa looking after his injured peers display the action of love and
care. Instances such as the confidence to treat the injured and encouraging words of friends are a
few examples of the esteem needs. Treating the injured is a very delicate and difficult task to
accomplish because it takes a great deal of confidence and determination to perform.

The confidence is built upon the esteem and the belief in oneself to be good or worthy enough to be
capable of aiding others. The effort that Zerbino and Canessa made to look after the injured are
examples of cognitive needs. Although Zerbino and Canessa do not have much experience within the
medical field, they remain to help their wounded peers. The attempt to treat their wounded peers
would be an example of cognitive needs because Zerbino and Canessa attempt to try things out and
master their skills.

In addition, Nando's determination to find a way out of the Andes mountains shows his self-
actualization needs because he is devoted to finding rescue. Another example of self-actualization
needs would be displayed under the Catholic faith that everyone in the team carries out, except for
Vito because he was an agnostic. The team were devoted to their Catholic faith as they prayed and
sang the "Hail Mary" every night. Their devotion to their Catholic faith attempted to display
themselves living up to their full potential.

These various needs that were met ensured the survival of the team as it helped them stay alive and
be psychologically stable. The transcendence need that was met in the movie "Alive" would be
exemplified after Nando, TinTin and Canessa encountered rescue and helped the rest of the team
reach the same self-actualization that they have desperately aspired. The most essential
psychological needs out of excitement, affection, recognition and security for survival is believed to be
both affection and recognition. These are considered to be the important psychological needs
because affection allowed the team to feel loved and important.

The affection provided by one another were one of the important basic needs to help the peers stay
psychologically sound. The team did not have any family to rely on and the survival depended on the
cooperation and teamwork from one another. The affection provided a positive environment because
the peers were looking after one another. Without affection, the team would feel negative and
depressed which would result in a low chance of survival because it would create negative feelings
among everyone. An example would be when the peers often exchange "I love you's" to each other
as a sign of encouragement and appreciation.

The team also have occasional gatherings around the fire and continue to have a sense of humour
around each other to lighten up the mood and make it positive. Furthermore, recognition was also an
important need because it boosted the positivity of the environment around them. Recognition from
one another allowed the peers to feel valued and important which helped them persevere for rescue.
The recognition displayed from different peers provided attention and displayed the act of love and
kindness by allowing them to feel important. This was very essential to the team as it helped them
stand strong during a severe situation.

Recognition is displayed when the team members tell Nando that it is Rafael's birthday and they give
him a small birthday gathering along with a lit cigarette on a small ball of snow as a birthday cupcake.
In conclusion, the spectacular movie "Alive" demonstrates a wide variety of examples to human
physiological and psychological needs. The movie is a remarkable film about a remarkable event that
is a very uplifting and hopeful. It explains to the audience the vital needs that a human needs in order
to survive through such a traumatic experience.

The various characters displayed different kinds of actions that met the necessary needs in order to
survive. These needs were vital to the team as it helped them survive the chaotic position that they
were placed in. Although the team were inexperienced, the 4 psychological needs as well as
Maslow's hierarchy of needs helped the team survive to this day and it teaches the audience a
traumatic yet heroic tale about the experience of the Andes Mountains. To this day, the 16 survivors
continue to live on their life after the unthinkable tale of the Andes Mountains.

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