Thirteen Lives

It feels like a lifetime ago now, but back in 2018 the world was enraptured with the harrowing tale of the rescue efforts to save 12 kids & their football coach after they were trapped inside a flooded Thai cave. Well now it's time to relive that moment with Ron Howard's gripping Prime Video exclusive retelling, Thirteen Lives.

Starring Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen & Joel Edgerton as the rescue divers who find the group still alive before then devising a plan to extract them. Each man gives a brilliantly understated performance, which prevents the film becoming overly Hollywood & instead feels much more true to life & authentic.

Thirteen Lives is a relatively straight forward film as we follow the rescue efforts inside the cave & above. Inside the cave Howard does a wonderful job depicting the claustrophobic nature of the cave system & the ever present danger that hampered the rescue efforts. Above ground we witness a rag tag group of volunteers doing everything in their power to divert water away from the cave system in order to delay the inevitable complete flooding of the cave.

One area of the story which was perhaps a little underserved was the plight of the families of the boys & the experiences of the boys themselves. The families are shown desperately pleading with Thai authorities to do more a smattering of times but we are never embedded in their despair long. In the case of the boys & their experience inside the cave we are only given a very brief glimpse when they are found & when the rescue efforts begin.

Although the story was all over the news at the time Thirteen Lives still provided some insights into the rescue that I was previously unaware of. These revelations made the rescue even more impressive & scary.

Thankfully Howard & his screenwriter, William Nicholson, chose to overlook Elon Musk's disparaging comments which swamped the media coverage at the time. This was a masterful choice as this element of the story simply would have distracted from the main point - the heroics of these rescuers.

Thirteen Lives is a gripping true life tale which you simply can't turn away from once you start, but perhaps it won't have as much emotional impact as intended.

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