Ron Howard was the perfect choice to direct an agonizing true-life story that takes place mostly in the dark, underwater, inside a cave.
Surely most readers recall the nightmarish 2018 incident in which 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach got trapped in a flooded cavern in Thailand. Cut off by water in an isolated chamber, they were reachable only by a five-hour, 2500-yard scuba trek through narrow, stalactite-filled channels; it seemed well-nigh impossible to get them out — almost as unthinkable as how they managed to survive without food for nine days before they were found.
Aided by a solid script, an exceptional cast and bracingly authentic locations, Howard has turned this amazing story into an amazing movie: “Thirteen Lives,” now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Courageous Thai Navy SEALS had virtually no experience diving in caves, and the boys were not located till British specialists Richard Stanton and John Volanthen arrived to help. Using guide-ropes laid by the Thais, this pair finally found the victims several hundred yards farther on; but none of the boys had scuba experience, and some could not swim — so how would they get out through such challenging underwater terrain?
Not recalling exactly how rescuers pulled it off, I was freaking out when Stanton and Volanthen called in a doctor-friend and proposed what still seems like pure insanity. I won’t go into detail, so you have a chance to freak out too. But many remember the ultimate outcome — and for the record, it’s worth reading the Wikipedia entry once you finish the film.
If you do that, you’ll see that veteran screenwriter William Nicholson — whose resume includes “Gladiator” and the C.S. Lewis biopic “Shadowlands” — has streamlined the incident considerably. That’s understandable given the astounding scope of the operation, which involved 10,000 workers from 18 nations, and included a massive effort to divert rainwater off the mountain as pumps struggled with rising water.
On occasion, it is not entirely clear what’s happening, but for the most part, Howard and Nicholson do a first-rate job conveying the courage, confusion, claustrophobia and complexity — not to mention many moments of tear-inducing fear and relief.
Much of this rests on the superlative cast, which includes Viggo Mortensen (one of my favorite living actors) as Stanton and Colin Farrell as Volanthen, along with Joel Edgerton as the doctor; Tom Bateman as diver Chris Jewell; and Vithaya Pansringarm as the local governor.
This final pair help achieve two of the movie’s strongest moments — first when the governor finally makes a go-for-broke decision, insisting he will bear the blame if it goes wrong; and then when Jewell’s resolve falters in the cave. Later, this young diver is mortally ashamed at his weakness, feeling that he somehow failed; but the viewer knows his jitters are merely an emblem of the task’s tense terror — and therefore of Jewell’s heart and courage.
Time and again Howard has mastered cinematic challenges, including “Apollo 13,” the high-speed racing movie “Rush” and what is likely finest fire-fighting film ever made — 1991’s “Backdraft.”
Speaking of tough-to-film: Maybe Howard should do a feature on the Johnstown Flood.
