Thirteen Lives

Ron Howard's film about the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, which was the subject of the documentary The Rescue, is a rare example of a fictionalized Hollywood feature film doing an even better job documenting a recent real-life event than its non-fiction predecessor. Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s 2021 The Rescue is a strong picture that powerfully chronicles the global effort in which 10,000 volunteers worked together to pull off the harrowing extraction of twelve young soccer teammates and their coach from a flooded Thai cave during an unexpected early monsoon. But due to the specific nature of this story, the documentary filmmakers had little option but to stage reenactments of much of the action, since it occurred in dark, cramped, underwater passages in tense life-threatening situations where cameras could never be present. In my opinion, when events have to be reenacted to tell a true story, a fictionalized docudrama can do a better job as long as the filmmakers don't overplay the melodrama—which, unfortunately, all-star blockbuster movies and prestige cable TV films invariably do. But such is not the case here. The Rescue also suffers from being so focused on the heroics of the English and Australian volunteer divers that it fails to feel like a full and complete account of the event. Whereas when we go into a Hollywood feature, we expect to see a narrower, more condensed "heroic" narrative than we’d get from a documentary. And while Thirteen Lives also focuses on the men rescuing the titular characters rather than those characters themselves, we get a better sense of the boys, their families, the officials in charge of the operation, and those who live near the cave who also made great sacrifices.

Howard turns out to be the ideal choice to helm such a project. He and screenwriter William Nicholson (Shadowlands, Les Misérables, Everest) forgo sensationalism in favor of letting the story play out slowly and meticulously, as it did in real life. Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, and Tom Bateman play the lead characters as the somewhat ordinary guys these divers are—their high-risk hobby may be unusual, but they don't come off as crazy daredevils or quirky rebellious loners. These are practical, responsible men. But even when compared to Howard's similarly themed Apollo 13, these protagonists are hardly glamorous or charismatic. Perhaps that's why this film was given such a tepid theatrical release before getting dumped on Amazon Prime. But the thrill of the picture is witnessing the scenes of the cave explorations and the rescue itself—which are most powerful when experienced on a big screen in the darkest possible cinema or screening room. It's not easy to photograph events that occur in dark, cramped spaces. And underwater movies about divers are notorious for confusing audiences as to which character is which under their matching masks and SCUBA suits. But Howard and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom capture the murky claustrophobic proceedings in ways that are clear and riveting. Mukdeeprom is best known for his work on the meditative films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul like Blissfully Yours, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and Memoria. The combined sensibilities of the Thai arthouse slow-film cinematographer and the American multiplex popcorn director yield an unexpectedly pleasing result.

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