The Rescue

This movie is fascinating. I mean in the way that although you might feel you knew the story from the news, this documentary convinces you how all the context, the weight of individual responsibility, and the logistical complexity of the operation really could not be fully understood from piecemeal reporting. Plus, this documentary explains it very well and makes it all come alive. [Ji.hlava 2021] (05/01/2022)

"I mean, there were two things that were really powerful, and that is pushing someone's face underwater who's unconscious, and then tying their hands behind their back. I mean, both those things feel very, very wrong." It ignores all the fanciful plans and squabbles "on the surface" (which would be enough for a documentary in themselves), it is not detailed or procedural, it does not deal with the personalities of the rescuers or "how the boys lived it", as much as it doesn't take credit away from the thousands of volunteers from around the world (many of whom played quite pivotal roles), it does focus (unsurprisingly for this writing duo) on a couple of lunatics with an obscure penchant for reliving "normal people's" worst nightmares with the adrenaline sport of cave diving, through which a group of freaks come to terms with their inner demons. And by the way, they are the only very slim hope of saving a bunch of boys… We followed it with tension "during the 2018 World Cup", but this is a bit of a different perspective. The view through the eyes of those divers on the front line who spent nearly three weeks in the impossible task of diving in claustrophobically narrow tunnels with zero visibility, strong currents, many hours of "back and forth", where the only hope is not to let go of the guide rope. And that's just to haul around gear or malnourished boys in limbo who need to be anesthetized regularly. Underwater, in the dark, in a cave, without any medical training… It is conceived suggestively as a claustrophobic horror film that, despite its familiar course, unwittingly drips emotion to the core. If you are interested in the whole monster operation "humanity has some hope after all" about saving those boys and everything that happened, you won't find it here. This is about what happened in the meantime in the icy murky muddy waters to the few fools who persisted in doing it again and again. (06/01/2022)