What Happened To Every Real-Life Survivor After Society Of The Snow

The J.A., Boyena film Society of the Snow tells the remarkable true story of the 1972 Andes plane crash and the passengers’ valiant fight for survival over the course of 72 brutal days. Society of the Snow, which is Spain’s official submission for Best International Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards, features a cast of entirely South American actors, many of whom make their feature film debut. Society of the Snow was released on Netflix on January 4, 2024, and has quickly become one of the most popular films on the streaming platform.

There were sixteen survivors of the plane crash and the subsequent 72 days in the frigid and dangerous terrain of the Andes Mountain Range who were rescued in December 1972. The rest of the passengers were killed in the crash or subsequently died while awaiting rescue for more than two months with the Society of the Snow honoring each victim with their name displayed on screen to mark their deaths. The movie focuses on the ordeal, leaving the aftermath of what happened to the survivors unknown.

16 Roberto Canessa

Played By Matías Recalt

Roberto Canessa is played by Matías Recalt in Society of the Snow. Roberto is introduced early as one of the athletes of the team whose skills on the field also gained some criticism from his teammates who insisted he needed to pass the ball more. However, he proved to be one of the most helpful members among the survivors as his medical schooling allowed him to help out many of the injured people. He later joined fellow survivor Nando in the 10-day trek across the mountains in search for help which proved to be a success.

Following the rescue, Canessa continued his pursuit of his medical career and went on to become a pediatric cardiologist and a motivational speaker. Canessa was a medical student during the plane crash and offered aid to many of the survivors. Canessa later taught at the University of the Republic graduate school and even ran for Uruguayan President in 1994 but did not win.

15 Gustavo Zerbino

Played by Tomás Wolf

Gustavo Zerbino, played by Tomás Wolf, was also a medical student and did his best to help the injured survivors. In a harrowing moment in the movie, Zerbino points out to Canessa that they have done all they can as doctors among the survivors but the remaining injured people in their party cannot be saved. Interestingly, when the survivors are rescued at the end of the movie, Zerbino refuses to leave on the helicopter unless he is able to bring his suitcase onboard with him. He is even seen clutching it tight in the hospital after being rescued.

Zerbino became Director and CEO of the Uruguayan Rugby Federation, a title which he still currently holds. He is also the President of the Proprietary Formulations Chamber in Uruguay, an organization that combines multinational laboratories. Zerbino is also a motivational speaker and an expert in areas of adversity management, leadership, and motivation, speaking at many acclaimed colleges around the world.

14 Eduardo Strauch

Played By Rafael Federman

Eduardo Strauch, played by Rafael Federman in Society of the Snow, was not one of the rugby players but rather was traveling on the same plane along with his cousin Adolfo “Fito” Strauch. After the team’s captain, Marcelo Pérez, the Stauch cousins became the defacto leaders of the group and took charge of using the bodies of the deceased as a food source. Though there was shown to be opposition at first, Stauch helps to devise a way to protect the others from seeing the process, handling it himself.

Strauch is an architect and a painter who opened up an architectural studio with his best friend from childhood, Marcelo Pérez, in 1968. He is married to Laura Braga and they have five children together. Strauch wrote the book Out of the Silence: After the Crash in 2019 with award-winning Argentinean-Uruguayan writer Mireya Soriano.

13 Álvaro Mangino

Played By Juan Caruso

Álvaro Mangino, played by Juan Caruso in Society of the Snow, was also not one of the rugby players involved in the crash. While many of those who were seriously injured in the crash eventually succumbed to their words as a result of infection, Mangino survived despite the fact that he broke his leg. Roberto Canessa is seen helping him in the aftermath of the crash, painfully repositioning the broken bone.

Magino went on to live a relatively quiet life following the events of the 1972 Andes plane crash. Mangino was one of the survivors who contributed to the book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Reed. He mentions in the book that surgeons later admitted that Cenessa’s work on his leg was the best fix that could have been possible. Mangino got married, had a career working in air conditioning and heating, and is now a grandfather living in Montevideo.

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12 Nando Parrado

Played By Agustín Padrella

Fernando Parrado, played by Agustín Padrella, was one of the most unlikely survivors of the crash. He was heavily injured when the plane went down with many of the other survivors assuming he was going to die. Parrado also lost his mother in the crash while his sister died days later from her own injuries. Despite all of this Parrado was the one who spearheaded several of the hikes up the mountain to get food, attempt to fix the radio, and eventually find rescue.

Parrado is now 74 years old and living in Montevideo. Parrado co-wrote the book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home with Vince Rause, which was published in 2006. He has appeared in several television and film documentaries that chronicle the event such as Alive: Back To The Andes (2006) and I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plan Crash (2010), which aired on History Channel. He is a TV presenter, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker.

11 Antonio “Tintin” Vizintín

Played By Agustín Della Corte

Antonio “Tintin” Vizintín, played by Agustín Della Corte in Society of the Snow, was one of the rugby players who survived the crash. Vizintín is actually responsible for the famous photo recreated in Society of the Snow showing the survivors at the crash site. Vizintín also joined several of the other survivors in the numerous hikes in an attempt to get help. He did not continue on with Nando and Roberto in the final hike, choosing to return to the crash site so they had enough food to continue on.

Vizintín recently celebrated his 70th birthday in 2023. After being rescued from the 1972 Andes plane crash, he studied law and worked in plastic packaging and the food industry. Vizintín became the Vice President of the Uruguayan Rugby Union, an Administrative Board Member for Viven Foundation, a motivational speaker, and a grandfather.

10 Pedro Algorta

Played By Luciano Chatton

Pedro Algorta, played by Luciano Chatton in Society of the Snow, was an economics student when the crash occurred. Algorta is one of the less vocal members of the survivors group while at the crash site. However, he does offer valuable input at times, such as when he points out that they should wait for the thaw season in November before they attempt to make any trek in search of help.

Algorta is currently 72 years old. Following the 1972 Andes plane crash, Algorta moved from Montevideo to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he continued his studies in Economics at the University of Buenos Aires. He eventually graduated with a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Stanford University in 1982. He wrote the book Into the Mountains: The Extraordinary True Story of Survival in the Andes and its Aftermath in 2016.

9 Alfredo “Pancho” Delgado

Played By Valentino Alonso

Alfredo “Pancho” Delgado, played by Valentino Alonso in Society of the Snow, was the person who convinced Numa Turcatti to join them on the flight to Chile. In one of the movie’s saddest scenes, Numa and Pancho talk about all of the things Numa wanted to do in his young life that he fears he will never experience as he gradually dies from infection.

Following the events of the plane crash, Delgado became a public and motivational speaker who spoke heavily about the religious aspects of the cannibalism that he and his fellow survivors partook in. One of the things Society of the Snow leaves out about the true story is the public backlash following the revelations of cannibalism. Delgado has since lived a quiet life but he did appear in 2012 in Chile on the 40th anniversary of the disaster to play rugby with the survivors.

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8 Roy Harley

Played By Andy Pruss

Roy Harley, played by Andy Pruss, was another one of the rugby players who survived the crash in Society of the Snow. Harley was seen in the movie to have a talent for engineering and electrical work as he is able to fix a small portable radio that is found among the luggage. Given that success, he agrees to accompany Nando to the debris from the tail section of the plane in the hopes of getting the radio to work so they can call for help.

Harley was one of the eight survivors who had to spend an extra night in the mountains before being rescued, which was not depicted in the movie. Harley went on to get married at the age of 28 in 1978. At the time, he had a young daughter and was studying civil engineering. He makes appearances in documentaries Alive: 20 Years Later (1993), Stranded (2007), and Independent Lens (2009).

7 José “Coche” Luis Inciarte

Played By Simon Hempe

José “Coche” Luis Inciarte, played by Simon Hempe in Society of the Snow, was not a member of the rugby team. Initially, he is seen as one of the survivors who refuses to resort to cannibalism in Society of the Snow. However, he eventually gives in like the others when it becomes clear that is the only way they are going to survive.

Inciarte died in 2023 at the age of 75 due to cancer and severe bone problems. Before his death, he got married and had three children and several grandchildren. Inciarte became the director of the National Association of Milk Producers and the director of the National Cooperative of Milk Producers (Conaprole) of Uruguay. In a touching show of their continued friendship, it was fellow survivor Carlos Paez who announced the news of Inciarte’s passing. In 2018, he wrote the book Memoria de los Andes.

6 Ramón “Moncho” Sabella

Played By Rocco Posca

Ramón “Moncho” Sabella, played by Rocco Posca in Society of the Snow, was not one of the rugby players on the plane. Like many of the other survivors, Sabella suffers the extreme challenges of starvation while awaiting rescue. In one impactful scene, he is crying out for help and in agony from stomach pains with his fellow survivors unable to do anything to help him.

In the years after their rescue, Sabella became a businessman and spent time living in Asunción, Paraguay. He also, like many of the other survivors of the plane crash, became a public speaker, notably speaking with the survivors of the infamous 2010 Copiapó mining accident in Chile. He is also one of several survivors to cameo in Society of Snow where he can be seen briefly in the early airport scene.

5 Javier Methol

Played By Esteban Bigliardi

Javier Methol, played by Esteban Bigliardi in Society of the Snow, who was traveling with his wife, Liliana. He was the oldest of the Society of the Snow main characters, a father of four, yet he still bonded and formed a camaraderie with the younger survivors. After an avalanche hits the crash site, it kills several of the remaining survivors, including Liliana. In a heartbreaking scene, Javier relives the moment of her death with Numa, remembering how much he loved her.

Sadly, Methol was the first of the plane crash survivors to pass away as he died of cancer in 2015. After losing his wife Liliana during the events following the plane crash, he remarried Ana María with whom he had four more children. He worked in the tobacco industry until his death at the age of 79.

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4 Carlos “Carlitos” Páez

Played By Felipe Gonzalez Otaño

Carlitos Páez is played by Felipe Gonzalez Otaño and was one of the rugby team members on the plane. Páez is the son of famous Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró. Interestingly, the real Carlitos Páez appears in the movie, playing his own father. Carlos Páez Vilaró is shown reading the names of the plane crash survivors, including Carlitos whom he acknowledges as “my son.”

After the plane crash, he went on to have a successful career in advertising, eventually starting his own agency, Rating Publicidad. He was later director of Bates Uruguay Publicidad and currently manages his company of Communication Consultancy and Public Relations. He also spoke frankly about coming from a life of privilege provided by his successful father and how the experiences in the Andes opened his eyes to how lucky and easy he had it as a young man.

3 Roberto “Bobby” François

Played By Agustín Berruti

Roberto “Bobby” François, played by Agustín Berruti, was another member of the Old Christians rugby team as well as a student of the Stella Maris school when the plane crashed in Society of the Snow. François was not a big presence in the movie, but some of the accounts from the other survivors described how François was overcome with depression and seemed to give up on trying to survive early on.

While such a reaction is understandable given the difficult circumstances he was forced to face, it is perhaps part of the reason François has lived a private life following the events of Society of the Snow. Unlike the other survivors, he has not written any books or participated in any documentaries and has rarely spoken publicly about the tragedy, including with the release of this new retelling.

2 Daniel Fernández

Played By Francisco Romero

Daniel Fernández, played by Francisco Romero in Society of the Snow. Along with the Strauch cousins, Fernández took on a pseudo-leadership role among the survivors, especially when it came to how to deal with using the deceased victims as a food supply in a safe way. He is mentioned as the one who cuts the meat, sparing the others from taking on the disturbing job.

Fernández did not speak publicly about the events for 30 years before eventually becoming a public speaker. Part of this could have been due to the controversy and backlash that arose in the wake of news of cannibalism among the survivors with the movie showing him to be one of the survivors who pushed for the others to partake in order to save themselves. He is also a professor of agriculture.

1 Adolfo “Fito” Strauch

Played By Esteban Kukuriczka

Adolfo “Fito” Strauch, played by Esteban Kukuriczka in Society of the Snow, is shown to be a dedicated member of his team who listens to his captain and never disagrees with him. However, he is also shown to have little faith in their rescue as he sees the climate as too unforgiving and posing too much of a threat to the remaining survivors. When the idea of eating the dead victims comes up, he is one of the first to do it and to give consent to the others to use his body should he die.

In life after the crash and subsequent rescue, Strauch went on to work in agriculture and became a father of four children. He has been featured in the documentaries Independent Lens, Alive: 20 Years Later, and Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors.

Society of the Snow

Release Date

December 15, 2023

Director

J.A. Bayona

Cast

Matías Recalt , Agustin Pardella , Felipe González Otaño , Luciano Chatton , Valentino Alonso , Francisco Romero , Agustín Berruti , Andy Pruss

Runtime

144 Minutes