After watching 127 hours, I have to say I am emotionally disturbed. Two hours with James Franco trapped under a rock in the canyons of Utah. It was a lot to handle. What struck me more than the self-amputation or the overall claustrophobia of it all was, the fact that this film was an English co-production that had absolutely nothing to do with England! That’s not true. The co-production was definitely not what struck me more than claustrophobia or amputation, but it is fascinating. A co-production between Pathé films and several American production companies, 127 Hours is a film based in America about an American but written, produced and directed by the English!
How odd.
Pathé films has been a fairly popular production company based out of London. They have been working with many different European countries like Spain, Poland and France with co-productions, but they have worked with the US on few occasions. Usually these films are in co-production with other European countries as well as the US. Why is it that Pathé films decided that this movie was worth donating their money and time to?
At first, my mind went immediately to the idea of American media imperialism. Pathé definitely understood that a film staring James Franco would bring them a lot of money and were intrigued by the concept of Aron Ralston’s adventures. There was a lot of money to be made off of this very American story. But in reality, it was probably far more likely that Pathé agreed to make the film because Danny Boyle created the project.
What occurs to me now is that while 127 Hours is a story about an American stuck under a rock in Utah, the film is able to transcend nationalism because the story focuses on an individual stuck in a tough position. It doesn’t matter if he’s American or that he’s in America, it matters that he’s a human being that is presented with a very difficult problem and we, as an audience, are watching him figure out how to solve this problem.
Further, the idea of a film about an individual that can cross borders seems to slightly reflect what Elsaesser talked about with the concept of “double occupancy.” His idea on the lack of purity within the world now, can be applied to this film. Elsaesser discusses how everyone exists with a hyphenated identity and so, it’s impossible for anyone to be purely from one country or another. The idea that no one is purely from one region or another allows for humanity to become more unified in all contexts of being. With this said, 127 Hours allows for a unification of humanity through a narrative that can be seen as an across-the-board human story. Regardless of Aron’s ethnicity, 127 hours allows us to go on this journey with him with no regard to nationalism. The story revolves solely on human triumph rather than national identity.
So at the end of the day, it makes sense that Pathe would make this film in co-production with the US and it makes sense that Danny Boyle would write a film based on an American. The issues that are dealt with in this film apply to anyone and everyone, so the filmmakers managed to create a universally disturbing, claustrophobic and terrifying film.E
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