Thirteen Lives

 When I was reminded of the existence of Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives last month, particularly when it was shortlisted for the Visual Effects Oscar, I thought it was a documentary about the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue. But no, I was actually thinking about The Rescue from 2021. This is the docudrama version of the whole affair. Let's see how it is.

The whole ordeal begins when the Wild Boars, a Thai junior football team, and their coach Ekkaphon Chanthawong (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) go spelunking in Tham Luang. Monsoon Season immediately begins, and the caves are flooded, trapping them quite far from the entrance. The authorities immediately organize a Navy Seal rescue for the thirteen trapped souls. International volunteers arrive to help them out, most prominently British divers John Volanthen (Colin Farrell) and Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen). They have to hurry as the monsoons threaten to flood the caves further.

That's the basic gist of William Nicholson's screenplay. The film immediately starts with the disaster and spends the remainder of its 149 minutes chronicling the rescue efforts. We get some gripping stakes as the flooding worsens and the oxygen decreases. An expert diver, Saman Kunan (Sukollawat Kanarot), dies retironically during the rescue. The local Governor, Narongsak Osatanakorn (Sahajak Boonthanakit), faces political trouble as he organizes the rescue. A few farmers allow the rescuers to divert cave water onto their crops for the greater good. Meanwhile, Dr. Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton) can't believe what the rescuers are asking him for.

Everybody got that?

What are we missing here? The Wild Boars. As I said, the film immediately starts with the disaster. As in, they go spelunking as water drips down, and the caves are flooded when their parents go there. It's at the forty-five-minute point where we see them next. We barely get the perspectives from the ones enduring the disaster. Coach Chanthawong gets the most characterization; he's apologetic for leading the team there, but his diligence in keeping them alive and sane is praiseworthy. On another note, the film doesn't feature Navy Seal Beirut Pakbara, who contracted a fatal infection during the operation, as a character, which makes his mention in the epilogue text fall flat. 

What is unambiguously praiseworthy are the technical elements. You wouldn't know that quite a few of the diving scenes were all CGI unless you looked up an FX Reel. The Cave Entrance is a CGI-Modified bit of Australian scenery instead of a Thai locale. You'd swear that the interiors were real caves instead of sets designed by Molly Hughes. You'll understand why it made the list once you see that FX Reel. Other standouts include Benjamin Wallfisch's score, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom's cinematography and the sound design.

To make it short, the characters are fine, but the rescue operations are more compelling. Shouldn't both be compelling? Anyway, Thirteen Lives is overlong, but its procedurals make it an intriguing watch. It's ready to stream for free on Amazon Prime if you're ready. Who knows if it will make the nominations this year. But it's still a good addition to the shortlist. That's it for now.