The Rescue
STORY: A
This movie pulls off the Apollo 13 Challenge. I’m not talking about the actual space mission, which by the way was also super impressive. The Rescue takes a real life story that most of us know the ending of and still manages to turn it into a nail-biting thriller. Academy Award winning directors Chai Vasarhely and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo) bring us the story of the thirteen teenagers who were trapped while hiking in a cave when an extremely early monsoon flooded it. They smartly focus more on “how” the cave divers will try to save the children instead of whether or not the perilous mission will succeed.
The Rescue shares many parallels with Princess Leia’s rescue in Star Wars (Ep. 4). The caves are narrow, dark, and filled with danger - just like the cell block hallway Han, Luke, and Chewie fight their way through. There is real danger of drowning in the caves, and Luke is nearly drowned in the garbage compactor by a largely unseen monster. I was shocked and appalled to learn that if the cave rescue had not succeeded, there was a real danger that the global volunteers would have been arrested and thrown into a Thai prison. It reminded me of our intergalactic heroes being trapped within the Death Star, and the devilishly harsh fate that would have befallen them if they had been caught.
Chai and Jimmy masterfully capture every drop of this story’s drama.
SUBJECTS: A
The trapped children, members of a youth soccer team, are not the main focus of the film. As the title implies, it’s the rescuers who get to share their stories.
Cave divers are amazing people. And fairly quirky. These are people who - for kicks - spend their weekends under water wiggling through coffin-tight spaces where one small mistake can easily be their last. These people are not normal, and they are thoroughly interesting. Their stories of what turned them on to this peculiar sport are fascinating. Watching them struggle with how to pull off the impossible task is inspirational. They’re the only ones in the world with the experience to figure out how to pull this off.
CRAFT: A
This film is made by pros. Free Solo won Oscar for best documentary, and this film uses familiar elements from that movie. They create a digital map of the cave system that reappears anytime we need a visual cue to help us understand the team’s next move, just like the map of Alex Honnold’s route up El Cap.
The title cards not only help us keep tabs on the timeline. Each day that slips by builds piles of tension. Every time the countdown appears, it forces us to shake our heads in wonder of and in fear for these boys’ lives. As the numbers go up, so does our fear and disbelief.
EMOTIONS (Elective Class): A+
I forced my son to watch this with me. He had one of those random days off school. It was below freezing, so our usual mountain biking ride was off the table, and I wasn’t sure what to do with him. He was stretched out on the floor, completely into it. He never turned around. If he had he would have asked me why my eyes were welling up with tears the entire time.
If he had seen me, I would have told him that it was impossible not to watch this movie without imagining him or his little brother in that cave. I would try, unsuccessfully, to tell him exactly how much I love him. Unsuccessfully, because no one’s ever come up with a number or a word to describe something that large.
I’m older - of the generation raised to never see their dads cry. But I’m a different dad than my dad. Not better, just different. When the credits began rolling, I grabbed my son, looked at him through teary eyes, and made sure I told him all that.
FINAL COMMENTS:
The Rescue is a shining example of what we can achieve when we refuse to allow our differences to divide us. We see people from all over the world - different skin tones, different languages, different religions - unite for a common goal. The movie doesn’t hide the fact that working together can be insanely difficult. But it’s possible. It’s a message we need to hear, and not only on a global scale. So many aspects of life are used to divide us - race, religion, orientation, politics. This film shines a light on the power of connecting with others. It’s a thrilling and powerful watch.
FINAL GRADE: A
Available on Disney +.