A rescue mission is assembled in Thailand where a group of young boys and their soccer coach are trapped in a system of flooding underground caves.
I’m always the last to leave a film screening because I want to see all the credits. “Thirteen Lives” kept me in the theater longer than most due to its immense cast and crew listing. My daughter and I always stayed put until the “bitter end” of the credits, waiting specifically to see who the caterer was. Leaving the theater, I finally started filling out my brief review card, outlining my impressions of the film. The GIC (guy in charge) was ahead of me, already entering other reviewers’ comments into his laptop. He said, “Don’t bother with the card; just tell me what you thought of the film.” Only one word escaped my mouth: Stunning! Just Stunning! And exciting, even though I knew the ending. Oscar-worthy cinematography!
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. There has been a Netflix version of the story of the rescue of 12 young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave in Thailand. “Thirteen Lives” provides insight missing in all the audio, video, and film versions. What was involved in this rescue? The answer is staggering. As the 2018 rescue gets underway, a camera shot from above slowly pans out to reveal a small town that has grown up around the entrance to the cave that swallowed up the missing boys. Hundreds, if not thousands, of locals and others came to help. The boys, ages 11-16, with their young coach, had gone into the cave on a lark just a few days before the monsoon season would arrive. They had ridden on their bikes and left them at the entrance. While inside, it began to rain heavily, and the boys traveled further into the cave than they intended, attempting to escape the rising water. They encountered a small “shelf” in the cave that allowed them space to wait for rescue.
It was, however, two weeks before divers (yes, SCUBA divers) reached the group. That’s the beginning of a harrowing rescue you can’t believe happened. The dilemma was not finding them but getting them out. None of the boys could swim, but that didn’t matter as the trek out required diving with scuba gear and navigating passages underwater only inches wide and strewn with broken rocks, wires, and garbage. The cave passage was so dangerous that a well-trained former Thai Navy Seal died of suffocation trying to traverse against a strong current.
That dilemma delineated the brilliance of the storytelling, the cinematography, the directing, and, of course, the acting. I followed this story closely just four years ago in the news. Of course, I knew how it ended, so how does the director take an overexposed story and make it “hold your breath” exciting? Ron Howard. “Thirteen Lives.”
Available globally on Prime Video Friday, August 5th
