THE RESCUE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)

[Mark Leeper]

THE RESCUE is a documentary about the rescue of a Thai boys' soccer
team trapped in Tham Luang Cave in June 2018, when an early monsoon
rainfall blocked many of the entrances and would soon flood the
cave. The team was trapped behind lower passages that had filled
with water. The main "narrator" is Vern Unsworth, a British cave
diver who had mapped a lot of the cave.

The first step was to assemble a rescue team. These were not
professionals, but men whose hobby was cave diving, and they were
acknowledged to be the best in the world. They were also
introverts, did not play team sports when they were young, and
often had been bullied as children. Even though they were experts,
few cave divers have experienced conditions like this where the
only path out includes extensive underwater navigation in a very
strong current of murky water.

Their first dive found three additional trapped workers, men who
had been working the pumps but had been caught by the rising
waters. Their rescue gave the cave divers valuable information
about how to accomplish their main goal.

The Thai Navy SEALS did some of the original rescue work including
exploring the cave, then they turned it over to the British cave
divers. At one point, the British felt it was hopeless--they had
had great difficulty in bringing the pump workers out in thirty
seconds under water, and could not see how they could bring
children out in what would be a multi-hour trip. However, the
SEALs refused to give up and took back the job until one died. At
that point, the British realized they could not give up, and
resumed their task. On Day 10 the dozen soccer players were found
deep within the cave. Food was brought in, but the oxygen level in
their section of the cave was down to 15%, below what would sustain
life for long.

Having rescued someone from a cave is like no other caving
experience. No place is the experience valuable except in going
through the experience for another flooded cave. Because of the
problems with the pump workers, one suggestion was to sedate the
boys and bring them out unconscious. Although everyone agreed this
was a terrible plan, ultimately they agreed this was the only plan
that had any chance of working. Ultimately, they brought all the
boys (and their coach) out on Days 15 through 17. And within hours
of the last rescue, the cave flooded completely.

The same directors, E. Chai Basarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, previously
made the documentary FREE SOLO, so they are familiar with filming
tense outdoor scenes, which here was dramatic cave photography.
Obviously a lot of the rescue operation footage was obviously
recreated later, though authentically by the original participants,
but there were at least fifteen minutes of original footage taken
from almost 87 hours that the Thai SEALs had captured on cameras
they carried. There is also an interesting animation style for
telling of the legend of the cave and the end credits.
Unfortunately, while the rescue was a momentous rescue, the film
ended up just average, with perhaps too many scenes of people
outside the cave that did not convey new information.

Released theatrically 10/08/2021. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9098872/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_rescue_2021>

--
Mark R. Leeper