Survival Movies (Detour)

I believe we had such a topic somewhere already, but the forum search has returned nothing for "movies" in the subject. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and move the post as appropriate.

In short, I just saw the Detour (2013) movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1753693/ recently. It's not of a really high aesthetic quality (so it is safe to fast forward all of the "drama-aggregating" flashbacks there), but it is trying to poke quite an interesting survival situation. The guy was trapped in the car under the mudslide and attempting various self rescue "techniques". Some quite useful ideas and no-nos were well presented in my opinion. And even made me inventing some better ideas as well. So if someone else saw it or going to check it out - the discussion should have a good educational potential, I think...

Just done with another survival "movie":
"The Island with Bear Grylls".



It shows 13 ordinary British men living for 29 days on an uninhabited (but rich in survival resources) tropical island somewhere in the Pacific with only 3 sets of Bear Grylls' logo bearing merchandise (I've noticed BG machete, knife, fire starter, and the headlamp). Even though its survival side is quite insignificant to research, one could at least get a good grasp on some of the psychological quirks of the ordeal. It's also quite a spectacular visual paradise in HD (though, two cameramen were among the survivors as well, so there were probably not so much of a good video footage made, the documentary looks quite spotty). Still, there were some useful to study moments for me anyways.

By the way, the web site above also provides an interactive "survival on the tropical island" quiz (just scroll down a bit) - quite amusing as well. In fact, it reveals all of the tactical and strategical errors the 13 men obviously made. It is sad that there were no any useful analysis of that done at the end of the series, like at the end of each of the "Naked and Afraid" episodes. The later, by the way, became quite a good show in the 3rd season, with quite interesting participants.

Surviving with nothing to look at but a dozen other guys would be almost impossible, even in a normal setting.

"Wrecked" with Adrien Brody is a pretty darn good flick for both dramatic presentation and reasonable "what would I do if...?" food for thought.

Yeah, we already did this topic. But with all the global cooling it's good to review.

Island in the Sky

The Snow Walker

Rescue Dawn is ok...not great, but ok:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462504/


Anyone have a review/critique of "The way back" with Ed Harris? Been wanting to see that for a while now..

That's a nice list! Thank you folks.

"The Way Back" is very good IMHO. I watched that a while back, not knowing what it was and having never heard of it before I stumbled upon it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

"The Way Back" felt dry on survival tips, but good.

I haven't seen any of these titles,but I won't let that stop me from commenting. All of these flicks seem to be commercial flicks, produced primarily for entertainment. How accurate are they likely to be? I would think one would get better information by studying factual accounts of real survival situations, both successful and unsuccessful.

Watching the second season of "Survive That!" (a.k.a "Dude you're screwed" in the US) Discovery Channel show:

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/dude-youre-screwed/

Not too much of good survival tips, but definitely a great survival game-like show to watch for fun and perhaps learn some survival attitude mistakes of real people, pretending they are ultimate survivors The team with military background is still experimenting with the format, I think, so it looks like fun every time. About 15 episodes total so far. Would recommend!

Not a movie, but a 10-episode series each

The Colony, Season 1
The Colony, Season 2

Each had its ups & downs, but all in all, very good

Yeah, "The colony" show http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470018/, is probably the best education wise so far.



Available on YouTube (in low quality, though) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcWw5tyfDah2sgIwwuSJprDtM9-ffjz5K

I think, Netflix has it.

Crossposting the link to discussion on the new History Channel series "Alone" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4803766/ Ten men try to survive as long as they can in the Vancouver Island wilderness, carrying only what can fit in a backpack. Alone in harsh, unforgiving terrain, these men must hunt, build shelters and fend off predators, all while documenting the experience themselves. It's the ultimate test of man's will.

Six episodes so far.

The discussion is here: http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=276072

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053454/


Yet to watch it myself.

I've watched both seasons and like this series, Alex. I find it interesting to watch how people react and interact. Season three is coming in the spring, apparently, if they can get past the typical criticisms that are inherent with BG shows and reality tv.

I am really digging "The 100": "Set 97 years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, when a spaceship housing humanity's lone survivors sends 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth in hopes of possibly re-populating the planet."

We're in the midst of Season 3 right now, and I'm watching "The Walking Dead" between new episodes. I only got through the first two seasons originally, but my son has become a fan of the Zombie, so we've got back to the pilot and are watching it together. We just finished Season 2 and are both hooked.

FWIW - my son's favourite post-apocalyptic movie is "Zombieland". It doesn't offer a wealth of real world survival advice, but it sure is good fun.

Edited to remove credit for the 100 from Netflix. You can watch it on Netflix though, new episodes seem to be released every Friday.

Are you kidding? The Rules from that movie are absolute gold.

AHAHHA!! True enough. What as I thinking?! Cardio, double-tap, seat belts, public restrooms..... and Twinkies! All great stuff!!

And - contrary to advice offered in TWD - DON"T disguise yourself as a zombie.

I like your taste in shows! I like the same ones. "The 100" is a show from "The CW Network", not Netflix. I had never even heard of "CW" before this show.

I just started watching "Colony". It's a new show about "what happens after some disaster or military takeover or something" that I've only seen one episode of so far, so I don't actually know what it's about yet. Time will tell if it's good or a flop. This new show inherited wise-cracking Sawyer from Lost, and deceased Laurie from The Walking Dead as two of it's main characters.

Colony looks pretty cool. I haven't seen it yet but saw a trailer the other day. Going to have to hunt that one out. Thanks foe the recommendation, haertig! Much appreciated!

"The Walking Dead" (TWD) is my second favorite series after the "Lost", waiting for every episode. Very well made, artful, and extremely "atmospheric" and immersive. That's the only series to date I'm really watching, putting aside my smartphone...

The "Zombieland" is great and a lot of fun indeed, check the "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse" - even more fun in the exact same genre! (18+ though)

We started watching the new "Colony" series as well, caught by Josh Holloway participation (Sawyer in "Lost"; by the way, Sarah Wayne, "Lori" in TWD, is actually famous for her "Prison Break" work, in the TWD she must be considered just an episodic character), however, so far (ep.5) it feels quite boring and shallow in general.

Watching "The 100" as well (Season 3 ep.4) - solid PA (post-apocalyptic) SciFi, even though seems to be girlish somewhat But the PA world depicted and the variety of plot's lines is quite interesting, no doubt.

Another "girlish" PA series, I'm watching with my DW, is "The Shannara Chronicles", the "survival value" is nil, but I always loved a well thought out PA/Fantasy world mix where you own imagination is free to hypothesize. It shines with quite an artful CG as well.

Movies are all well and good, but they are entertainment and they don't necessarily reflect reality.

Consider some real life examples, like:

1) a man exposed to 120 degree temps in the Arizona desert, losing 25% of his body weight - so dehydrated his numerous wounds did not bleed until he partially hydrated. Crawled the last eight miles to the Tinajas Altas completely naked.

2) adrift at sea in the S. Atlantic Poon Lim spent 133 days on a raft in 1942. His raft had 50 days worth of provisions but he spent the last days drinking rainwater and fishing. This was formerly a record for longest time adrift, but I believe it may have been eclipsed, if the story is credible.

These are all folks who couldn't pick up the phone and say "This isn't fun, anymore" and wait for the helicopter. no reality scripts or Holiday Inns nearby, but just stark reality. Of course there is very little drama in watching someone crawl across the desert, or sit on a raft, but real survival often seems to be rather boring, at least to the outside observer

I think, that's obvious even for kids. We just sharing the entertainment options which could be of interest to those with ETS passion. E.g. my DW hates when I'm watching more than 3 series of the many seasons of "Alaska: The Last Frontier" in a row Not bad survival reality show, by the way, even though that's just the people simply living in the near to normal environment documented.

You covered it perfectly. Nobody would want to watch real life survival. To hold peoples interest, they have to throw in a few explosions, naked women, guns, velociraptors, car chases, zombies, etc. Which, for the most part, aren't typical in survival situations.

"I think, that's obvious even for kids."

I would hope that you are correct in that statement, but I feel all too often what we see on the screen, either the big one or the little ones, exerts a strong influence on what we expect. I have handled victims in mountain rescue who have expressed some dismay that their ordeal wasn't going to end really soon, with time for station breaks and commercials. Of course those weren't always the sharpest knives in the drawer.

I doubt that dismay was caused by the cognitive dissonance between TV shows and reality. They've probably climbed some distance already to learn that the right way. Rather they simply had brighter expectations about the county's rescue operation's level, but nobody paid for a couple of copters with special equipment. Shows for millions usually have more money to spend on a single SAR mission than a dozen of stranded kids or a rural county - that's the truth.

Truth. This is something that we are aware of, and as parents, and have to monitor with our 12 year old boy. Fantasy and realty can be very blurry at that age. His strategy for what to do if he comes across a bear in the woods, for example, tried to take a brief detour from nice, safe reality, to "holy ninja batman!" for a little while a couple of years ago. LOL!

For most people, their only frame of reference for survival is their entertainment (movies, tv shows). I can't tell you how many times I have had people throw out a "good idea" that came straight out of one of these TV shows. Entertainment or not, it is all most people know about the subject.

Entertainment is good, I like it myself. In this forum, we do understand its limitations. It would be nice to have some more educational and accurate information get out to the general population. The real examples are numerous, most people just don't pay attention to them, "normalcy bias".

TV rots your brain.

Which is more likely to give you valid useful information - a TV show designed for entertainment (even if it doesn't rot your brain very much) or factual accounts of survivors or near survivors/....

One of my survival favourites - its an oldie! Flight of the Phoenix - the original with Jimmy Stewart.

Slightly older than that - Robinson Crusoe.

A not bad but somewhat cliche version of an actual incident Behind Enemy Lines.

Gruesome airplane crash in the Andes Alive.

A Roger Corman classic Last Woman on Earth.

In a similar vein: the last 5 people on earth after nuclear holocaust Five.

There was a very good BBC series a few years ago called "Survivors". I really enjoyed it and was disappointed when it got cancelled after two seasons.



Here's a link to the iMDb page about it. This one was made in 2008, but it looks like they made a similar series in 1975, and possibly another in 2015. I think I'm going to check those out! iMDb is a great site to explore if you're looking for new movies or tv shows. Search for something that you like, and it will recommend similar stuff.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258189/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Dersu Uzala (Akira Kurosawa) has some survival content

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071411/

"The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter."

Watching the "I Shouldn't Be Alive" series from 2005-7 Cannot find any recognizeble title links, though. Perhaps some among these.
I'm sure everyone saw a couple or a bit more already. But there are 20 episodes! Quite thrilling and thought provoking, as we like to say, reconstructions with many details.

I think they are more than 20 episodes
They are on You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i+shouldn%27t+be+alive+

There appear to be 68 episodes (not all of them are here, but the majority are):

http://thewatchseries.to/serie/i_shouldnt_be_alive

Sweet! Thank you!