Top 10 Real Life Survival Movies That Left Out The Real Ending
#10: “Everest” (2015)
This dramatized account of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster mostly stays true to the real-life event, only taking a few artistic liberties in its narrative. Scott Fischer’s story, however, goes a little further than the film portrays. In reality, a guide was sent back to help him down, but finds him already dead, having partially undressed himself, which is a common occurrence in hypothermia. Fischer’s company Mountain Madness was later acquired by a husband-and-wife climbing team. After returning home, Beck Weathers was faced with a slow and painful recovery. In addition to his nose, he had to have his right arm, all the fingers of his left hand, and parts of his two feet amputated as well.
#9: “Jungle” (2017)
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Starring Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role, this film details the 1981 experience of Yossi Ghinsberg, an Israeli adventurer who got lost in the Amazon rainforest. After he was separated from his partner, Ghinsberg spent the better part of the next three weeks stranded in the wild, with no resources at his disposal. He was eventually rescued by his partner, with the help of some indigenous people, which marked the end of the film. About a decade after his ordeal, Ghinsberg returned to the Amazon and helped the indigenous community secure a grant worth over one million dollars. This was used to launch a solar-powered ecolodge in the community, which Ghinsberg also handled for three years.
#8: “Touching the Void” (2003)
Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are two British mountaineers who, in 1985, were the first to successfully climb the West Face of Siula Grande, a mountain in the Peruvian Andes. Their near-fatal exploration was reconstructed in this 2003 docudrama, which won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. Following the ordeal, Simpson sustained extensive leg injuries that required multiple surgeries. Although told by doctors that it was the end of his climbing career, Simpson eventually returned to the rocks after two years of physical therapy. Yates also continued climbing, making a trip back to the Peruvian Andes 25 years after their brush with death. The two men barely spoke to each other afterwards, only reuniting briefly on the set of this film.
#7: “Togo” (2019)
This Disney+ original film tells the story of Leonhard Seppala, who was instrumental in preventing a diphtheria epidemic in the town of Nome, Alaska in 1925. Seppala raced with his sled dogs, most notably Togo, whose pivotal role in the serum run is accurately represented in the movie. In reality, after their incredible run, Seppala and Togo went on a publicized tour across the U.S., which drove up interest in sled dog racing. He capitalized on this enthusiasm, opening his own Siberian Husky kennel, and is largely credited with popularizing the breed in North America. While Togo lived a fulfilling life, he was sadly put down at age 16, and is currently mounted at a sled dog museum in Wasilla, Alaska.
#6: “Rabbit-Proof Fence” (2002)
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This Australian production is based on the 1996 book “Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence” by Doris Pilkington Garimara. The film centers around Garimara’s mother, Molly Kelly, who escapes from a forced settlement camp in 1931 with two other Aboriginal girls. The girls walk over a thousand miles, along Australia’s rabbit-proof fence, to return to their families. Molly, who eventually marries and has two daughters, is shipped right back to the settlement years later, this time with both of her girls. She makes yet another daring escape, but is ultimately separated from her children, only getting to meet Garimara 21 years later. Although they later established contact and sent each other gifts, Molly passed on in 2004 without ever seeing her second daughter Annabelle again.
#5: “Against the Ice” (2022)
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Blinding white snow, sub-zero temperatures, and even a polar bear, “Against the Ice” perfectly captures the feeling of being stranded in the Arctic. An adaptation of Ejnar Mikkelsen’s 1957 book “Two Against the Ice,” the film chronicles an expedition to Greenland by Mikkelsen and his engineer, Iver Iversen. While it is a pretty faithful adaptation, there are quite a few artistic choices in the movie that stray from the true story. Unlike in the film, the two men were never officially acknowledged for their work by the Danish government. Mikkelsen remained active in Greenland, however, becoming the Inspector General of East Greenland from 1934 to 1950. On the other hand, Iversen retired to a quiet life and never returned to the Arctic again.
#4: “Rescue Dawn” (2006)
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Dieter Dengler was a pilot for the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War who was captured and held prisoner for six months. Dengler managed to escape and spent the next 23 days in the jungle before he was found and rescued by an American pilot. His harrowing ordeal was first reconstructed in the documentary “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” before it was dramatized in this 2006 film starring Christian Bale. The movie gets its happy ending in Dengler’s rescue, but the real-life events take a sad turn afterwards. While he regained his physical self, Dengler never fully recovered from his traumatic experience. The decorated pilot was diagnosed with ALS years later, and ended up taking his own life.
#3: “Into the Wild” (2007)
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“Into the Wild” details the life of Christopher McCandless who hitchhiked across North America and ended up in the Alaska wilderness. McCandless camped out in an abandoned green bus, where he eventually passed on, reportedly due to starvation. After being documented in the biographical book of the same title, McCandless’ story became a cultural phenomenon and inspired quite a lot of people to tread the same path as him. In the years following the book’s publication, many hikers journeyed to McCandless’ abandoned bus, with two people losing their lives in the process and multiple others needing to be rescued. To prevent further harm, the bus was removed from its original location. It currently sits in a museum at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
#2: “Alive” (1993)
The true story that inspired this movie is chilling, and its representation on the screen stops short of the full picture. “Alive” is an account of the aftermath of the Andes flight disaster, involving Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. The crash survivors spent 72 days in the harsh Andes mountains before they were rescued. This point marks the end of the 1993 dramatization. After returning home, the survivors were heavily criticized when it was revealed that they had resorted to eating their dead friends for sustenance. Even with such a great loss to bear, the father of one of the dead victims was arrested for grave robbing when he went up to the mountains himself to retrieve his son’s remains after they were buried.
#1: “127 Hours” (2010)
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An extraordinary story of survival, “127 Hours” was described by its real-life subject to be “as close to a documentary as you can get.” The film depicts the ordeal of Aron Ralston, an adventurer who has to amputate his own arm to free himself after he is trapped by a boulder. It concludes with Ralston being found and airlifted to safety. While retrieving his severed hand, park authorities realized just how heavy the boulder was, as it took 13 men and some lifting equipment to be able to move it. Ralston’s agonizing experience never deterred him. He continued climbing and just two years later became the first solo individual to climb all of Colorado’s fourteeners in winter. He is now a motivational speaker.
