Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche (2021) User Reviews

Very Good

[bt698nhj · 7/10 · 6 March 2024]

I love humility and find it inspirational. There are boatloads of humility in this documentary. Very touching, very poignant, made me cry.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

Wow

[tmcnurse3-606-23821 · 9/10 · 14 November 2023]

This documentary had me riveted to my seat. I have always had an interest in this story, mainly because of how it affected our family. My brother-in-law was a professional skier at the time and his girlfriend was at the resort working that day. She became so worried about the weather conditions, so she called my brother-in-law to come pick her up. The avalanche happened about an hour after they left. It was a miracle she avoided the catastrophe that followed. I've heard this story so many times, and I'm glad someone finally did a documentary about it. Thank you to all those who worked so hard in the rescue efforts.

Really, really well done.

[firemanbob · 10/10 · 15 November 2023]

As someone who isn't a skier, but is active in outdoor recreation (I'd rather snowshoe), and lives in the mountains of Colorado, I was keenly interested in this movie when I saw the description. I was hoping for something great, and it is indeed great.

Told from the perspective of the people involved, and with no third person narration, this story unfolds with the events leading up to, and after, the avalanche.

You get an idea of what the people were like at the time, how much they've grown since then, and how much this affected them. They are at times very emotional, but always with a sense of honesty. They were mostly people (around my age, as far as I can tell) who were having a good time being ski bums, when tragedy struck. How they dealt with the tragedy is the main thrust of the story, and it is told with brutal forthrightness.

Even if skiing or winter recreation isn't your thing, this is still a movie to watch.

Heartfelt and inspiring. A masterpiece.

[dfj-16 · 10/10 · 4 February 2023]

The necessary elements for an outstanding movie are the same whether for a documentary or feature film.:

1] Compelling story and script.

2]. Performance quality that is genuine with unmistakable emotional content that resonates with and enlivens the emotional experience of viewers.

3]. Cinematography that effectively supports as well as enhances the visual story-telling process.

It is my opinion that "Buried" embodies the highest qualities of each of these elements and clearly demonstrates that it's creators possess a mastery of the visual story-telling art. It would be impossible to produce a documentary of this quality without a remarkable commitment of time and compassion. Interviewees rarely share their hearts as openly as those in this film without a substantial level of trust and comfort. Although based on the consequences of a natural disaster there is a consistently uplifting theme of heartfelt humanity throughout. The film also successfully highlights the necessity for avalanche awareness as well as the need for improved prediction and snow management practices.

Bravo to director/producers Steven Siig and Jared Drake for this monumental achievement.

Watch this movie when I work for Palisades and Alpine

[gingerduanl · 9/10 · 11 March 2023]

It's kind of wired felling that watching this documentary when I am working for this resort. And the day I watched this is also the day they close the both resort due to high risk of avalanche. So I stay at home and review this said history. It's not as said as I thought, but it remind me should respect our mother nature more next time when I go to Alpine. Ski or working... The whole documantary has many many interview with the person who experience this accident and many valuable materials. It really helps me understand more about avalanche control and many other knowledge about snow and mountains.

This is a must see documentary!

[louraso · 10/10 · 7 November 2022]

This documentary tells the story of the 1982 Alpine Meadows avalanche and the rescue effort that followed. The series of storms that led up to the event and continued to dump snow after the avalanche was epic. Most day skiers are not aware of the danger and the huge effort ski area employees make to lessen the danger. Ski patrollers go out in insane conditions with explosives that they toss to trigger the snow packed slopes and produce slides.

The film has won multiple awards on the festival circuit including best documentary at Bend and Austin film festivals. Directors Drake and Siig have done a great job sharing this story.

Maudlin and shallow ...

[kerryharrismail · 5/10 · 18 November 2023]

I have no idea if I was watching the same film as the rest of the reviewers here because my comments are so different from everyone else. I note that other comments come from those with personal connections to either the area or people who worked on the mountain so maybe that's the difference. This doc was boring, overdrawn and very shallow - kind of a one note diatribe on how great (read talented) the survivors were. I actually fast forwarded through most of it.

Larry Heywood comes across as an appalling human being whose excuse for being wretched is that he was married????

Ego centric Jim clearly needs therapy as everything is about him and his narrative is painful to watch.

Yes, three people died and it was your fault - why wasn't the parking lot closed and condo owners sent home? That's irresponsible AF - no one should have been at the ski hill that day at all.

This could have gone so much deeper and explored the aftermath and effect that this disaster had on everyone involved, instead it's a linear start to finish, chronology of events. How boring is that?

Well pretty darn boring - that's 2 hours I won't get back ...

What an amazing documentary! SEE IT NOW!

[tripster1_2000 · 10/10 · 14 November 2022]

This documentary is one of the best that I have ever watched. I remember this event well as I was learning to ski at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort during this terrible storm. Such a perfect storm was created from the weather, the snow conditions, etc. While watching this moving doc, I chuckled, I had tears in my eyes, and I learned a lot about snow and weather and what can create these types of conditions that led to this tragic event. I also really enjoyed the interviews with the surviving people that were in charge at Alpine Meadows that terrible day. Well filmed, well documented, and the subject matter was handled beautifully with grace, homage, and dignity given where deserved. This needs to be nominated for the Best Documentary category!

Well done retrospect of personal accounts

[OneAnjel · 9/10 · 13 December 2023]

I was at a few ski lodges in the 70s & 80s. Those are fond memories, so this film was a bit nostalgic for me in some ways. I found all the participants to be clear and relatable, which is a nod to a great director and producer. There was actual footage when available. This film is not really entertainment so much as story telling and it's very informative and emotional. There's a definite level of intimacy between the survivors and the audience.

I wasn't very familiar with the story so I was on the edge of my sest to see if Bridget was correct ❤

When they brought up the law suit, I knew right away this was an act of God and the attorney that took the case knew he was just stealing that family's money. Such a sad reality but you're on a mountain in the middle of a fierce storm and you decide to take a walk? Yes, I am in the legal field and the fact is, the ski lodge did not have a duty to inform anyone that snow can be dangerous any more than a beach front carnival has a duty to post warnings about rip tides or sharks. It was a tragedy, to be sure, but no ones fault.

One review claims the film is maudlin and pathetic. I'm not sure if their platform called Buried an Action film or why they weren't expecting emotions and personal accounts. So I'll just say: Tell me your a sociopath without telling me your a sociopath.