Survival movies are great not only for some entertainment, but you can also learn a lot from them, especially if they are made based on a true story. You can find most of these movies on Netflix, Disney plus, Amazon Prime Video, and some even on Apple TV.
The best survival movies are, Cast Away, 127 Hours, Touching the Void, Alive, A Cry in the Wild, All Is Lost, The Revenant, Everest, Jeremiah Johnson, Into the wild, Desierto, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Snow Walker, Against The Sun, The Grey, Kon-Tiki, The Way Back and Lord of the Flies.
My personal preference in terms of survival movies is solo survival scenarios, as in real-life SHTF scenarios the probability that you will have to rely only on yourself is fairly high. You can view a lot of survivalists movies on Amazon Prime, Click here to check it out on Amazon
One of my favorite hobbies is watching movies, especially survival movies. During the past several years I have watched literally hundreds of survival movies, my favorites are the ones that are based on a true story and in a realistic SHTF scenario. Most of these movies give a good idea of what could happen in different SHTF scenarios, from personal SHTF scenarios to global SHTF scenarios.
You might also notice that most of these movies are older productions except a few, as there are very few good survivalist movies produced in the past 4-5 years. What I have learned after watching these movies is that no matter what you are preparing for, always expect the worst and hope for the best. The movies which are inspired by real-life events often show how a normal day can spiral out of control and they end up fighting for their survival. If you are also interested in off grid TV shows then check out my recent article ( Top 29 ) Best off grid tv shows.
1. “Cast Away” is about surviving on a desert island
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Writer: William Broyles Jr.
- Stars: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez
One of my favorite survivalist movies is Cast Away with Tom Hanks produced in 2000. The flight of Tom Hanks experiences severe turbulence while traveling from Moscow to New York, the turbulence gets so bad that the pilots have to ditch the airplane into the ocean. They end up crashing near a deserted island, the only survivor is Tom Hanks and all he has are the clothes on his back and some random items washed up on the shore.
If you have already read my article on ( Top 10 ) Things to take on a desert island, you already have a good idea of what to expect on a desert island. One of the most important aspects which Cast Away depicts is the psychological effects of being stranded away all by yourself. Battling loneliness he ends up talking to a handball which he names Wilson, after the first few weeks of struggle Tom Hanks becomes familiar with the surroundings and he is able to feed himself.
In an act of desperation, he makes a makeshift life raft and he sets sail towards the shipping lanes, after a few weeks he is found by a cargo ship and rescued.
2. “127 Hours” is about surviving trapped under a boulder for 127 hours
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Writers: Danny Boyle
- Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara
This is the true story of Aron Ralston, who had to take extreme measures to save his own life. While on a hiking trip alone he had an accident where his right arm got stuck behind a boulder. His biggest fear was that he would die alone before anybody could find him. He quickly realized that rescue will not come as nobody knows his exact location, keeping this in mind he rationed his remaining food and water. Aron Ralston is also one of my favorite survivalists if you want to know the top 22 survivalists of all time check out my article ( Top 24 ) Famous survivalists.
He tried several improvised methods to wedge the boulder off his hand but without any luck, he even had a camera with which he would make vlogs and you can clearly see his state was deteriorating quickly. After a couple of days, without any more food and water, he had to drink his own urine. In an act of desperation, he decided to cut his own wrists to end his life, but he was so dehydrated that his blood was so thick that he wouldn’t bleed out.
Aron Ralston also tried to cut through his bones but this was impossible with his knife, eventually, he ended up breaking his bones of his right hand and cut off the connecting muscle and tissue. After he cut off his hand he managed to come across a family that was hiking and he was eventually rescued. After recovering Aron Ralston continues to hike, and he always leaves a note where he is heading for in his truck, just in case.
3. “Touching the Void” is about surviving on a mountain with injuries
- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- Writer: Joe Simpson
- Stars: Simon Yates, Joe Simpson, Brendan Mackey
This is the true story of two mountain climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates which happened in 1985. They have traveled to Peru in an attempt to climb the Siula Grande which has never been climbed before. All went well before a massive storm hit and Joe managed to get his leg broken, they knew that the possibility of being rescued was slim at best. Even if the search and rescue team would find them it would be either too late or the search and rescue team wouldn’t have any way of getting to them.
Eventually, they have decided to get back to the base station, this was no ordinary hike as the mountain was filled with steep cliffs. At one of these cliffs they had to use a rope to climb down, as Joe had his leg broken, Simon had to lower him down. While Simon was lowering Joe down a powerful storm hit and it limited the visibility so much that Simon wasn’t seeing where he was lowering Joe down.
Due to the power of the storm, they couldn’t even communicate as any shouts would be carried off by the wind. After several hours dangling on the rope, Joe recognizes that there is no way that both of them can make it alive, and in an attempt to save Simons he cuts the rope and falls into a deep crevasse. Simon after noticing that there is no more weight on the rope realizes that something terrible must have happened.
He climbs down and searches for his friend and eventually, he gives up and presumes Joe is dead than he goes back to the base station. Joe has actually survived the fall and eventually found a way out from the crevasse, he crawled back to the base station after a few hours.
4. “Alive” is about surviving a plane crash
- Director: Frank Marshall
- Writers: Piers Paul Read, John Patrick Shanley
- Stars: Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton
The plot is about a plane crash in the Andes mountains, during severe turbulence the pilots lose control over the plane and eventually crash. Several passengers survive the crash although some were seriously injured. Due to the extreme cold environment, they spend the night in the fuselage of the airplane, on the second day they tried to search for any food and water. All they found were some wine and chocolates.
After a couple of days, the survivors see a plane flying nearby and some of them claimed that they have seen the plane signaling with its wings. In a euphoric state, they eat all the remaining rations which understandably upsets some of the other survivors. On the 9’th day, they have managed to start the radio and to their horror, they have listened to a short broadcast that was calling off the search.
Some of the remaining survivors decided to go and find the tail section of the plane which broke off mid-flight as this might contain batteries needed for the radio so they could signal for help.
The biggest problem was that the tail end could be miles away and they had no food or water, the only way they could survive this journey would be if they would eat the dead. After finding the tail section of the plain they still could not make it operational as it was damaged, at this point two of the survivors decided to go and search for help. The other survivors at the plane crash site all had to resort to cannibalism to survive but eventually, the 2 man party found civilization and managed to rescue the remaining survivors.
5. “A Cry in the Wild” is about surviving in the wilderness
- Director: Mark Griffiths
- Writers: Gary Paulsen, Catherine Cyran
- Stars: Jared Rushton, Ned Beatty, Pamela Sue Martin
This is the story of a boy named Brian Robeson, while on a trip flying a single-engine plane the pilot has a heart attack and ditches the plane in a nearby lake. From this point on Brian has to survive in a remote forest, with his only survival tool being a hatchet that his mother gave to him right before the trip. During his journey back to civilization, he has to battle wild animals, forage, and hunt. In an interesting plot twist, he ends up befriending two black bear cubs who are presumed to be orphans. If you are wondering if can dogs survive in the wild then check out my recent article Can dogs survive in the wild? ( For how long? ).
6. “All Is Lost” is about surviving in the middle of the ocean on a life raft
- Director: J.C. Chandor
- Writer: J.C. Chandor
- Star: Robert Redford
This story takes part in the Indian Ocean, where the captain and only person on the deck of a small ship wakes up after hearing his ship has collided with something. While sleeping his boat hit a shipping container that was floating in the ocean, the shipping container damaged the ship’s hull and water started to flow inside. The captain tries to signal for help but his communication devices are no longer functioning as they have been damaged by the water.
He ends up finding the source of the leak and tries to patch it up when this doesn’t work he manages to pull the ship on its side so water will no longer leak inside. After a couple of hours, a tropical thunderstorm hits, and his boat gets capsized, after which he is forced to abandon the ship on a life raft. With the help of a sextant, he comes to the conclusion that his liferaft is being pushed into the shipping lane by the oceanic currents.
Once in the shipping lanes, he spots two cargo ships and he signals with a flaregun but the cargo ships do not notice him. Eventually, the currents push him through the shipping lane and away from any hope of being rescued. In an act of desperation, he writes a note and puts it in a bottle, and throws it overboard. After a couple of days, he notices during the night the lights of a ship, as he didn’t have any more signaling devices he sets fire to his diary and eventually the whole liferaft gets unveiled in the fire. Giving up hope he jumps in the water and lets himself sink, while he notices the bottom of a ship getting closer to him and he summons up all his remaining energy and gets to the top to get rescued.
7. “The Revenant” is about surviving in the wilderness with injuries
- Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
- Writers: Mark L. Smith, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
- Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter
This is the story of the trapper Hugh Glass which took place in the 1800s. Hugh Glass was a hunter and a trapper, during one of his hunting expedition with a team he gets attacked and mauled by a grizzly bear. During this time the Arikara, native Indians are searching for the chief’s daughter which has been kidnapped by a group of men. Knowing that if the hunting party will be found by the Arikara they would all die, they had to make a decision to kill Hugh Glass so that he will not slow them down.
The hunting party’s leader could not do it so instead he paid one of the other hunters to stay with Hugh Glass and his son and to bury him after he dies. The hunter scared by the potential Arikara attack decided to speed up things and deiced to kill Hugh Glass but is discovered by Hugh’s son and the hunter kills his son. He then abandons Hugh Glass as he doesn’t think he is worth the effort to kill as he is not capable of moving.
Hugh Glass manages to pick up all his strength and perform surgery on himself stitching up his wounds, after which he started crawling back to the fort from where the hunting party started. After several days he manages to get back to the fort and track down his son’s killer. Which he kills after a savage fight to the death.
8. “Everest” is about surviving the descent from the Everest
- Director: Baltasar Kormákur
- Writers: William Nicholson, Simon Beaufoy
- Stars: Jason Clarke, Ang Phula Sherpa, Thomas M. Wright
Based on a true story, Everest is about a group o mountain climbers, some of them are professional mountain climbers but there are some ordinary people as well like a postman who hopes that he will be the first postman on top of Everest. As Everest is becoming ever popular with mountain climbers there are a lot of climbing parties at the base camp, the team knows that the hard part will not be the climb but the actual descent.
There are a lot of narrow passages where it is safe to travel but if they would come across a party of mountain climbers going the other way it would be extremely difficult as there is not enough room for two people to even fit there. The climbing party decides to head out early in an attempt to bypass the “rush hour” due to the other climbers. The team faces several challenges like climbing over deep crevasses and even an avalanche.
Once they reach the top of Everest they are overjoyed and after a brief celebration they decide to descent, however, a massive storm hits them making the descent extremely dangerous. Some of the climbers are so exhausted that they would outright give up, but their teammates will not leave them behind. As you probably notice the survival situation begins with the descent, I will not be going into it further as I don’t want to spoil the movie for you.
9. “Jeremiah Johnson” is about surviving in the wilderness with a child
- Director: Sydney Pollack
- Writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp
- Stars: Robert Redford, Will Geer, Delle Bolton
This is an old-time classic survival movie back from 1972, played by Robert Redford which after the Mexican War, decided to become a mountain man and live off the land by hunting, trapping, and foraging. During his time in the mountains, he finds a frozen body with a powerful weapon, later he will give this weapon to a Native American chief called Bear Claw. Bear Claw is part of the native American tribe called Crow, which takes in Jeremiah Johnson and teaches him the art of surviving on the mountain.
During his time in the mountains he comes across a small cabin in the middle of the woods, the cabin was recently attacked by the Blackfoot Native American tribe and they have killed one of the three inhabitants of the cabin, this being the father in the family. The widow panicked that she can not take care of herself and of her son forces Jeremiah Johnson to take her son with him as it would be safer for the child to go with him then to stay with his mother.
Jeremiah Johnson takes the kid and sets off, after a short while they find a man buried up to his neck, and it turns out that the same Blackfoot native Americans who killed the father in the cabin have also buried this man. Jeremiah Johnson helps the man and after some convincing from the victim they set on to get his stolen goods back. Jeremiah Johnson is approached by a US army officer which asks him to lead a search party, although he should be hunting to provide for his family he has no other option but to help the army officer.
After he gets home after the search party he finds his entire family killed. In a thirst for revenge, he goes and kills the killers of his family except one who was part of the Crow tribe. The Crow tribe sends their best warriors against him but he defeats them all, eventually, the Crow tribe starts to respect him for his brave deeds, and thus the legend is born. Eating rabbit meat can save your life if you have no food, but only eating rabbit meat for a couple of days will lead to some serious health complications, for more information check out my recent article Dangers of eating rabbit meat ( Protein poisoning & Tularemia ).
10. “Into the wild” is about surviving living off the land in the wilderness
- Director: Sean Penn
- Writers: Sean Penn, Jon Krakauer
- Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener
This is the true story of Christopher McCandless played by Emile Hirsch and co-produced by Sean Penn. In 1992 Christopher McCandless decided that he wants to be a true survivalist and live off the land, so he hitchhiked to Alaska. His survival journey starts in a remote location called Stampede Trail which is notoriously difficult even for experienced hikers and survivalists. One of the biggest obstacles in this area is the Teklanika river which doesn’t have a bridge even today.
McCandless manages to cross the river in a shallow area as the flow of water was limited due to the summer temperatures. McCandless’s goal was to walk all the way to the Bering Sea, all the while he would live off the land and writing in his journal. During his journey, he finds an abandoned bus that was previously used by workers in the forest industry but it has been long abandoned since.
McCandless sets up camp in the bus and forages and explores the surrounding areas. He mostly hunted for small game but on one occasion he managed to kill a moose, he had knowledge on how to preserve meat but the moose meat has started to rot before he could preserve it. After spending about two months in the wild he decided to go back to civilization, his efforts of getting back were blocked by the Teklanika river which has increased in volume and he could no longer cross it.
He eventually headed back to the bus and after several weeks he started feeling the effects of malnourishment as he couldn’t find enough food to eat. Luckily he had a book with the local edible plants and he used it to forage but at one instance he misidentified a plant and he ate something poisonous. In addition to starving to death, he has also poisoned himself by accident, his body was so weak that he could hardly stand up.
During this time he was still writing in his diary and on the last written page of his diary he comes at ease that he is dying and he thanks God that he had a good life and God bless to all.
UPDATE: The actual bus has been removed from the trail by the local authorities.
11. “Desierto” is about surviving in the desert while being hunted by others
- Director: Jonás Cuarón
- Writers: Jonás Cuarón, Mateo Garcia
- Stars: Gael García Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alondra Hidalgo
A group of Mexicans try to cross the US border illegally, they are traveling through the desert with a truck which during the journey breaks down. As there is no possibility to repair the truck on the spot the driver simply points the Mexicans in which direction to go towards the USA and the driver heads off on foot back to Mexico. Battling exhaustion and dehydration the group of Mexicans have finally reached the border but their survival journey has just started.
A man named Sam and his dog Tracker who often hunt small game near the border, spot the group of Mexicans. Sam opens fire on the group and kills most of the group except two of them which have managed to escape, their name is Moises and Adela. Sam and his dog are hunting the two, while the two remaining survivors hide behind the rock they share their life stories. It turns out that Moises has a family in Oakland, and Adela had a person in the group who had the sole job of protecting her but he instead decided to hurt her.
The two came to the conclusion that the best way to escape their hunter is by stealing the hunter’s truck. They manage to distract Sam and steal the truck but Sam manages to shoot Adela and this makes Moises lose control of the truck and crashes it. Moises has to abandon Adela and takes with him a flare gun that he has found in the truck, overcome with remorse when seeing Sam approach Adela he shoots the flare gun to draw Sam’s attention.
Sam sends his dog to attack Moises and when the dog finally catches up with Moises and jumps him, Moises shoots the flare gun into the dog’s mouth and continues to run. When Sam finds his dog in agony he decided to put a bullet in the dog’s head to end its suffering. Desierto has also a very interesting end, don’t want to spoil it for you so you should definitely watch it if you like survivalist movies.
12. “The Flight of the Phoenix” is about surviving a plane crash and rebuilding it
- Director: Robert Aldrich
- Writers: Lukas Heller, Trevor Dudley Smith
- Stars: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch
When you search for this movie you will find two versions of it the one from 1965 and the one from 2004. The 2004 version of the movie is a remake of the 1965 version but I still prefer the 1965 version more. The plot is about a group of people traveling home with an airplane when a sandstorm clogs up the engines of the aircraft, and the airplane crashes, killing two of the passengers and injuring one of them.
Luckily they have plenty of figs on board as this was being returned back to the company as nobody liked them. Their biggest problem was the lack of water as even if they would ration the water it would only last for 10 days, oh and I forgot to mention that they have crashed in a desert. Two of the survivors come up with a plan to go and search for help in a remote oasis by only traveling at night and sleeping during the day.
The two men set off and they are being followed by another survivor which ends up dying of dehydration. After a couple of days, only one of the survivors manages to get back to the crash site and he is badly dehydrated. During this time one of the survivors comes up with a plan to make a new plane from the wreckage of the old one, most survivors think that this is an absurd idea but they are finally convinced as it will be a morale booster and they should rather do something to save themselves than to wait for the search and rescue team.
When the new plane has been built they name it “The Phoenix” which is a story about a dead bird raising back from its ashes and flying away. Before they can test the plane they notice a local Arab rebel outpost nearby and two survivors decide to go and ask them for help, but they get killed by the rebels instead. During this time the “engineer” who came up with the plans of building the new plane is found out that he isn’t a real engineer and he mainly builds model airplanes, basically toys.
The group has serious doubts about the successful launch of the plane but after several attempts into starting it, the plane finally starts and the group manages to fly away.
13. “The Snow Walker” is about surviving in the tundra
- Director: Charles Martin Smith
- Writers: Charles Martin Smith, Farley Mowat
- Stars: Barry Pepper, Annabella Piugattuk, James Cromwell
Usually, survival movies are either set in the mountains or in the desert, this one is different as it is set in the tundra. While at first I never considered the tundra to be a harsh and unforgiving environment this move shows that in fact, it is one of the most dangerous environments of them all. The story begins with a WW2 veteran bomber pilot named Charlie, which has been piloting a small plane across the Arctic ocean to supply Inuit settlements.
While in one of these Inuit settlements Charlie has been approached by a group of Inuits asking for help. They had a sick woman with them named Kanaalaq and she needed urgent medical help. Charlie didn’t want to agree to take her as the town with the hospital would be way off his route, but the Inuits pay him with a couple of walrus tusks and he agrees. While in the air the engine of the plane starts to backfire, and eventually it stops functioning altogether.
Charlie has to crash land in the tundra, both of them survive but Kanaalaq is sick and she would need immediate medical attention. Charlie knows that rescue will not come as they are off course by hundreds of miles. He considers Kanaalaq a burden and decided to take his chances of finding help alone. Charlie doesn’t have any survival knowledge and during his journey one day when he wakes up he is surrounded by a swarm of mosquitoes.
In an attempt to get away from their bites he starts running barefoot over the vulcanic ruck which cuts through his feet. In serious pain, he is eventually found by Kanaalaq and healed with natural remedies. Charlie spots a plane flying and thinks that it is the search party, and he thinks that they should head back to the crash site as the crashed plane has probably been found. When they arrive at the crash site they do not find anybody and this makes Charlie very depressed as winter is coming and they will probably not survive.
Kanaalaq knows how to live off the land and also teaches Charlie, she also knows how to hunt caribou and the pair eventually ends up killing 3 caribous which should be enough food for both of them to last the entire winter. The two decide that their best hope of surviving would be an Inuit camp which is around 100 miles away so they set up for the long and hard journey. Kanaalaq’s condition is starting to deteriorate fast and Charlie has to carry her.
One night Kanaalaq tells Charlie that during a time of famine in their Inuit camp that her father has died in a snowstorm, leaving her and her mother without any way of getting food for the winter. Out of an act of desperation and in order to ensure Kanaalaq will survive the winter her mother has wandered into the wilderness where she eventually died. One morning during their journey Charlie wakes up and doesn’t find Kanaalaq, he follows her footprints which lead into the wilderness and she has done what her mother has done, sacrificing herself for somebody else.
14. “Against The Sun” is about surviving at sea after a plane crash
- Director: Brian Peter Falk
- Writers: Brian Peter Falk, Mark David Keegan
- Stars: Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel
This movie is based on the true story of 3 pilots during WW2. The 3 pilots were on a bombing mission against the Japanese, where under heavy fire the airplane is seriously damaged. As the pilots know that the plane will not be able to make it to safety they decide to ditch the plane into the ocean. Most of the movie plays out in the small raft slowly moving with the currents. In addition to not having any food and water, they also have to worry about being captured by the Japanese.
The 3 men battle storms and even sharks at some point, they manage to survive by drinking rainwater and eating the occasional sea creature. Eventually, they wash ashore to safety after more than 1000 miles adrift on the small liferaft.
15. “The Grey” is about surviving in the wilderness while being hunted by a pack of wolves
- Director: Joe Carnahan
- Writers: Joe Carnahan, Ian Mackenzie Jeffers
- Stars: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo
This story happens in a remote part of Alaska, with John Ottway who is hired by the oil company to protect the oil workers from attacks of predators mainly wolves. This is by far one of the best wilderness survival movies, as it has the fight for food, fighting against predators and the forces of nature. As the contract for the oil workers comes to an end so does John’s contract and they travel by plane towards civilization. During the flight, the engines start to stall and the plane eventually crashes, only one member of the oil workers is seriously injured and eventually dies.
The local wolf pack is becoming increasingly bold and approaches the camp, while most oil workers would want to stay at the crash site as that would be their best hope for being rescued, John argues that they are in the wolf packs hunting territory and it will be only a matter of time till they will be attacked. The team abandons the crash site and attempt to get to safety during wintertime, in a wolf-infested area.
One by one the oil workers die, killed either by the wolves or by the cold. Their main goal was to get as far as possible from the hunting territory of the wolves, but as the attacks from the wolves become ever more present they come to a realization that they are actually getting deeper into their territory. Eventually when only two survivors remain, one of them is John, they find the wolf’s den which is guarded by the Alpha wolf.
16. “Kon-Tiki” is about surviving at sea on a balsa wood raft
- Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg
- Writer: Petter Skavlan
- Stars: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård
This movie is based on the real-life Kon-Tiki experiment from 1947 and this is the only movie which is not in English so you will need subtitles for this, but if you can bear with it I promise you that this is one of the best survival movies. Unlike most survival movies that start with some kind of catastrophic accident, this one starts with a man and his simple idea to prove everybody wrong. The story is about the journey of Thor Heyerdahl, who wanted to prove that South American people have sailed and landed in Polynesia even before America has been discovered by Colombus.
His main goal was to use only ancient sailing techniques and a balsa wood raft which were used around the year 500. Thor Heyerdahl set up a crew of 5 people and set sail towards Polynesia, the entire movie is about them surviving storms, sharks, lack of food, and dehydration.
17. “The Way Back” is about surviving in the wilderness after escaping a gulag
- Director: Peter Weir
- Writers: Keith R. Clarke, Slavomir Rawicz
- Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell
This is one of the best survival movies on Netflix, the movie is set in ww2 where the protagonist called Janusz Wieszczek is sentenced by the KGB to a Russian gulag in Siberia. Once he gets to the gulag he is immediately approached by a fellow prisoner who claims he has a plan to escape. In the following days Janusz plots with this prisoner on how to escape, but his hopes of escaping become shattered once he learns that the prisoner is saying that he has a plan to escape to every new prisoner, he doesn’t really have any plan, he is just dreaming of escaping.
Siberian gulags were especially difficult to escape from, with tight security and patrols with vicious guard dogs that were bred to fight off wolves and even bears. Nonetheless, Janusz decided that he will escape and face the wilderness on his own, but some inmates also want to join and after some deliberating, he welcomes them to join him in the escape. The group eventually escapes from the prison on a cold night, the prison alarms have been set off but luckily the search for them was brief as nobody thought they could survive in the harsh wilderness.
On the first night the group heads out to search for firewood, one of the prisoners can’t find his way back and he is later found frozen hugging the firewood. The group’s main goal was to reach Mongolia which was not a communist country, but the journey would be long and dangerous. One of the main landmarks they were searching for was lake Baikal and eventually, they make it there, thus they knew they were on the right track.
During their journey, they come across a polish woman who joins them as she was also trying to escape from the country. Once they reach the border of Mongolia one of the prisoners who was a career criminal and an avid communist decides to go back as there is nothing waiting for him in Mongolia. Once the group enters Mongolia they find out to their horror that Mongolia is under communist rule, so they come up with a new plan to head towards British India.
Through their journey to British India, they have to cross a part of China and Tibet. They get lucky in Tibet where they are found by a Tibetan monk and nursed back to strength. From here on one of the prisoners gets smuggled towards British India while the other 3 remaining head on foot towards Sikkim, where they are eventually found by the British Indian government and helped to get home.
18. “Lord of the Flies” is about a group of boys surviving on a desert island
- Director: Harry Hook
- Writers: William Golding, Jay Presson Allen
- Stars: Balthazar Getty, Chris Furrh, Danuel Pipoly
The plot starts with 24 children who are in the military academy somewhere in the Pacific. They were heading home to the US with an airplane when they suddenly crash near a deserted island. The only adult which was the pilot is seriously injured.
Luckily none of the children are injured, and they quickly find a nearby source of fresh water. The older boys decide that they have to make a decision who will be their leader, after a “democratic” election between Ralph ( the normal one ) and Jack ( the sociopath ) which is eventually won by Jack. Jack as the newly appointed leader decides to take away one of the other kid’s glasses to use for starting a fire to signal to potential rescuers.
The group was hunting and foraging and it was peaceful for a while, one day the pilot having a delirious episode walks off into the jungle. When the children approach the cave and they hear the sounds of agony made by the pilot and they think that a monster lives in the cave. One of the children sees the pilot but mistakes him for the monster and stabs him. After the following days, heated arguments are kindling between Jack and Ralph as Jack has left the permanent signaling fire unattended which a passing-by plane would have been able to see.
One of the children finds a glow stick and decided to explore the cave, he there finds the body of the pilot. He rushes out of the cave flailing the glowstick and running towards the others, but one of the other children confuses him with the monster and stabs him to death. Ralph is extremely upset by this and he and his friend called “Piggy” are confronting Jack’s “people” when one of them dislodges a boulder which ends up killing Piggy.
Ralph realizing that they have all gone mad makes a run for it and the other children are chasing him through the jungle with spears and knives. When Ralph makes it to the shore he finds a US officer which came to shore as he has seen the signaling fire and the situation calms down.
In conclusion
There are literally hundreds of survival movies, some are based on true life events while others are fiction. Most older survival movies have a new version produced after 2000, however, you might find some inconsistencies in these as the new producers will try to add their own unique spin to them and sometimes they embellish so much that it becomes basically a new movie. My recommendation is to check out the older versions of these movies first and only then watch the new versions.
