‘The Rescue’ is a high-intensity thriller documenting the real-life, international operation to save a junior soccer team from a flooding Thai cave.
During natural disasters, people demonstrate incredible bravery, carrying out countless rescues of varying degrees of difficulty, some of which make local, national and even global headlines. More often than not, higher risk situations capture audiences’ attentions and draw them into the story as they watch the events unfold — sometimes in real-time. The internet and mobile devices have had a significant impact on recording these events and giving the heroes involved the recognition they deserve. The Rescue chronicles an international mission to save a group of children from a cave filling with water.
When heavy rains caught a junior football team and their coach off-guard in 2018, they became trapped in a cave system in Northern Thailand. With the wet season and increased flooding, the clock is ticking to get the 12 kids and their coach out before the whole cave becomes filled with water and they drown. Following the combined efforts of the Royal Thai Navy SEALs, U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and expert cave divers from several countries, the film recounts the 18-day saga of failures, small victories and eventual success owed to the essential international endeavour involving hundreds of people that demonstrated courage, compassion and perseverance.
Cave diving is a unique sport as its enthusiasts go to great underwater depths and propel themselves through caverns filled with spaces through which they barely fit. The risk of death is ever-present and the isolation in spite of your dive partners is near claustrophobic. Interviews with the international divers from the U.K. and Australia who would be involved in the rescue reveals they all value their ability to stay calm in these tight situations as they manoeuvre themselves and their gear through these snug openings. Theirs is a skill not taught to most military diving teams, requiring specialized equipment and experience the Navy SEALs simply did not have to complete the mission… though they had difficulty admitting their shortcomings for some time.
The documentary doesn’t shy away from depicting the difficult conversations those involved needed to have around the operation, the probabilities of success of different approaches and the potential loss of such young lives. Interviewing participants from all aspects of the undertaking, audiences are provided an intense, well-rounded view of the events and decisions not previously available to the public. The combination of post-rescue interviews and footage from the actual events — including incredible video of the football team in the cave — absorbs viewers in the narrative and makes it all very real again. It’s impossible not to join those involved on the rollercoaster of emotions as a dire situation is uplifted by a ray of hope only to be dashed by a change of conditions, which then requires swift, drastic action regardless of the risks.
In spite of its real-life subject, the film is akin to an edge-of-your-seat thriller. There are so many factors and so many things that can go wrong, audiences will still become wrapped up in the nail-biter even though the results were well-documented and widely publicized. Thus, it’s better not to reacquaint yourself with the details of the incident before watching, so the picture is able to fill in those memory gaps and engross the viewer in these harrowing and often unbelievable events.
Directors: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
