Review of The Grey (2012) by Carlos H — 14 Mar 2013

The Grey features an extremely simple plot: a plane filled with workers goes down in the wilds of Alaska, and they attempt to survive both the frigid environment and the attacks of wolves. Essentially an action/survival-horror film, The Grey transcends its plot and its genre to become a truly masterful work of existential cinema that at times recalls the films of Bergman--in terms of content, not style. Ultimately, it is a film about what Camus says is the fundamental choice facing us all: to kill ourselves or to go on existing? To let ourselves quietly die or to, as Dylan Thomas says, "rage against the dying of the light.".

Almost achingly beautiful cinematography coupled with brilliant performances mirror the horrific beauty that is life and reality. The film presents us with a perfect microcosm of the universe's absurdity: a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, most of the passengers die, and a small group struggle to find the will to survive in the hostile environment with a pack of wolves hunting them with a kind of preternaturally evil intent. Why do we keep going in such circumstances? What drives humankind to continue living long past their seems to be any meaning or purpose to any of it? The Grey concerns our attempts to find reason in absurdity, to celebrate life in the face of death, and to inscribe essence upon our mere existence.

The Grey's title does not merely refer to the wolves' fur or the grey surroundings; instead, it demarcates the ambiguities of existence: absurdity vs meaning, death vs. life, etc. We exist in the grey--we must choose whether we submit to the darkness or find a way to keep the meager light from dying...