On October 12th, 1972, Eugenia Parrado purchased a pair of red baby shoes in Mendoza, Argentina. She intended them as a gift for her baby nephew, the son of her eldest daughter, Graciela Parrado.

The following day, October 13th, Eugenia boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, bound for Santiago, Chile. She was accompanying her son, Nando, and his rugby teammates for what was promised to be a fun long weekend in Santiago de Chile.

Tragically, shortly after boarding the flight from Mendoza, Eugenia would lose her life when Flight 571 crashed deep in the Andes mountains. Her daughter, Susana, was left with severe internal injuries, and died 8 days later. Her son, Nando, spent 3 days in a coma with a severe head injury, but miraculously awoke on the 3rd day on the mountain. From the moment he awoke, he was filled with what seemed to be an insane desire to escape; to make it home to his father, Seler, who assumed his entire family had been lost in the crash.

The little red shoes were found soon after the crash, as the survivors combed desperately through scattered luggage for any scraps of food or warm clothing. The shoes became a talisman of hope, a reminder to the boys of their families waiting at home and praying for them to survive.

When the survivors, led by Nando, began mounting expeditions to attempt escape, one of the little red shoes always accompanied the expeditionaries.

Shortly before Nando began the final desperate expedition to the west, facing the 20,000 foot peak of what he would later name Mt. Seler in honor of his father, he took one of the shoes and handed to Carlitos Paez. He said, "when these are a pair again, we will be saved."

11 days later, on the 22nd of December, 1972, the little red shoes were reunited at Los Maitenes as the 16 survivors of Flight 571 descended from the rescue helicopters.

Again, they spent 72 days in the mountains. As soon as they got back to civilization, as they got into the hospital, they were separated. So imagine the big shock of being greeted as a hero when they felt miserable and then separated after creating such a strong group. They found themselves alone in different rooms with big beds. What they did is they gathered together again. They came together again at night. This tells you that they’re going to be always there, in the mountain. [...]

They needed to come together, to look at each other. The movie ends up saying, “Please keep telling this tale.” It’s important. Stories are important. They set up something that becomes important in the minds of the people. This is what we do as storytellers. It’s not only about the fact, it’s about the narrative. We told the tale again. [x]

^The Israelites are told to smear lambs blood over their doors to spare their first born sons. Book of Exodus.

María Laura Berch, aka the woman behind the practically supernatural casting of Society of the Snow, just got accepted to the Academy