Sunday, January 9, 2022

Delayed Reaction: The Rescue

Premise: A documentary about the rescue of the Thai football team trapped in a cave.

 


Simply put, this movie is The Martian but based on a true story. It’s about some people trapped in a hard-to-reach location and the specialists from all over the world who helped to rescue them. I only kind of remember the story from 2018. Twelve boys and their coach were trapped in a cave in Thailand after early monsoon rains flooded it. I remember hearing they’d all been rescued but I had no idea how much effort it took.

 

The same people who made Free Solo made this and it succeeds for a lot of the same reasons. They do a great job explaining a niche activity (cave diving, in this case) in a way that conveys the difficulty and danger of it. They manage to wring tension out of the story, even though we know how it ends. Where it differs from Free Solo is that they obviously couldn’t film the rescue like they filmed the climb. Instead, they use reenactments and really drive it home how crazy this rescue mission was. I finished the movie, laughed in disbelief, and said “Are you fucking kidding me?” That’s the kind of movie this is. There’s something so satisfying about so many people going to such great lengths to help some people in need. I’m all for some doom and gloom in movies, but on occasion I also need something to rejuvenate my spirits like this did.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

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