Ron Howard’s Absorbing Account of the 2018 Thai Cave Rescue

Director Ron Howard crafts an absorbing account of a rescue operation that captivated the world. On June 23, 2018, twelve Thai boys and their soccer coach entered the Tham Luang Nang Non underground cave system for a recreational hike. 13 Lives tells their extraordinary story of survival and dangerous extrication after eighteen days trapped by flooding water. The film plays out on several fronts as disparate groups come together to find the boys; then formulate a risky plan to save them. 13 Lives has superb technical traits that illustrate the immense difficulty of an unparalleled situation. The emotional drama is sufficiently represented but softened by a somewhat clinical approach.

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13 Lives opens on a lush soccer field with the Wild Boars practicing under a gray sky. The boys have a birthday party that night. They decide to explore the nearby caves before attending. Their coach, Ekkaphon Chanthawong (Teeradon Supapunpinyo), comes along to supervise the outing. Everyone playfully enters the cave complex with literally the clothes on their backs. They ignore the posted warnings of flash flooding.

Several hours later during a torrential storm, none of the children are present at the party. Their concerned parents are told of the cave trip. Everyone races to the entrance. The cave has been blocked by the surging water. Police and rescue teams are called for help. They cannot get through the water. Governor Narongsak (Sahajak Boonthanakit) is notified. He takes command of the rescue as the Thai Navy Seals are also brought in.

Several days pass as news of the lost boys transfixes global media. The entrance to the cave is a hotbed of frantic activity. Meanwhile, a monsoon continues to drench Thailand. British ex-pat and experienced cave diver, Vern Unsworth (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), warns Governor Narongsak that time is running out. He reaches out to Richard Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell). The English fireman and IT consultant were regarded as the world’s best cave divers. Stanton and Volanthen arrive to a chaotic scene. Governor Narongsak, under siege from the panicked families and furious Thai officials, gives Stanton and Volanthen free rein to explore the labyrinthine cave. Stanton believes they must have all perished. Even if they find them alive, how would they get them out?

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A Quasi-Documentary Format

13 Lives is told in a quasi-documentary format. Howard uses onscreen visuals as markers to keep the audience abreast of the rescuers’ progress. This is cleverly done to show how deep and far the children were stuck in the caves. He also has a subplot with an engineer (Gerwin Widjaja) rallying local villagers to help deflect mountain rain water. We see the frantic, all-hands-on-deck effort. Stanton and Volanthen were integral to the operation, but thousands of people worked tirelessly.

13 Lives will give claustrophobes nightmares. The diving scenes are extremely realistic. You’ll hold your breath as the courageous divers swim through murky water as debris and silt falls. They had to crawl through tight spaces with mere inches to spare. We hear the rushing water, exhaustion, and scraping scuba gear grind against rocks. The sound design, editing, and visual effects are superb. Howard and the production team get top marks for recreating the treacherous cave settings.

Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell in 13 Lives

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Mortensen and Farrell take control of the narrative in the second act. Stanton and Volanthen had vastly different personalities. Stanton’s pragmatic nature kept his emotions in check. Volanthen felt the families’ grief and terror. He was willing to engage them. Whereas Stanton didn’t want to inspire false hope. They had to deal with political nonsense above ground while executing a near impossible search miles beneath it. These men were bravery incarnate. What they accomplished was truly historic. 13 Lives never underestimates their efforts, resolve, and ingenious solution to getting the children out of the cave.

The nature of the story has many moving parts. Howard and acclaimed screenwriter William Nicholson (Shadowlands, Gladiator) address as a linear search and rescue. Thus, the British cave divers become the primary protagonists as intrepid saviors. The boys suffering and their parents’ worries aren’t explored in enough detail. There’s no lack of tension here, but an opportunity to show how the boys actually survived was missed.

13 Lives is a production of MGM, Bron Creative, Imagine Entertainment, Magnolia Mae, and Storyteller Productions. It will be released theatrically on July 29th by United Artists Releasing and Amazon Studios. Followed by an August 5th streaming debut on Prime Video.

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