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After the Accident:

After making it out of the canyon, Aron begins his trek back to his car. On his way back, he spots a Dutch couple with their son. Aron calls out to them and explains his situation. They give Aron water and walk with him, but Aron asks the wife and the son to run ahead as the husband stays with him. When the Dutch man suggests that they rest Aron declines and states that he has to keep going. He only rests when the sand in his eyes becomes too annoying and he sits on the ground. At this point a rescue helicopter arrives and Aron is rescued.

Afterwards, Aron makes a full recovery and meets his wife three years later. Eventually, his premonition about his son comes true as they have a kid in 2010.

What the Movie Got Wrong

Before the Accident:

Like I mentioned before, 127 Hours was very faithful to Ralston’s story but even so, there are a few discrepancies. It is true that Aron did run into a couple of lost girls before his accident. But Boyle decides to enliven their encounter a bit. In the movie, Aron and the girls have themselves a mini adventure. The three of them go hiking and take a dip in a beautiful blue water hole located in the canyon. They have a great time and both of the girls seem to be interested in Aron. When they are about to go their separate ways, they even invite Aron to a party.

But their real encounter was not nearly as exciting and basically involved Aron showing the girls their destination on a map. The blue lagoon they take a dip in is not even located in the Blue John Canyon.

The Accident:

Once Aron is stuck in the canyon, the movie is tasked with the chore of keeping things exciting for the viewer even though the protagonist - and only person present - can’t even move. Because of this, Boyle tried to focus on the conflict and emotions going on in Aron’s head.

As mentioned before, Aron’s encounter with the girls was not nearly as captivating as what 127 Hours depicts. But the movie decides to come back to the fabricated adventure Aron and the girls shared. At one point in the movie Aron has a very detailed hallucination about the party the girls invited him to. Later on when he is feeling particularly lonely, Aron views the tape they made in the lagoon. But since he didn’t actually go for a dip in the lagoon with the girls, he certainly didn’t have any footage of it to watch. And he wouldn’t have had such a vivid hallucination about a party he didn’t know about.

One of the most entertaining scenes in the movie happens as Aron is becoming more unhinged. He hallucinates that he is on a game show documenting his situation. He plays the host, guest, and callers. Unfortunately, as Boyle himself admitted, this was completely fabricated.

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