TIFF 2021: The Rescue
TIFF 2021One of the most harrowing and touching news stories of my life was the 2018 story of the Thai boys’ soccer team that became trapped in a cave when sudden monsoon rains flooded the cavernous complex behind them. Many were moved almost to tears each morning of the incident after awakening to news updates from Thailand. Once the boys were found, the daily reports revolved around the efforts to extract them. Journalists attempted to articulate the complexity of the operation – and its various alternatives – that was required to bring the miracle of the boys’ escape full circle. After ten days, to even discover that everyone alive was practically unimaginable, but to wiggle them through an extensive canal of muddy river flow – a strong current that was beyond navigable by most of the world’s experience divers – seemed like an epic tragedy slowly unfolding via hourly reports.
National Geographic’s new film, The Rescue, tackles this epic news story by digging into the details surrounding the event from beginning, middle, to end. The Rescue doesn’t pretend to pursue any greater social commentary or messaging, and frankly, it doesn’t have to. This story is so heavily laden with grand stakes and the story of care by the international community, The Rescue need only do its research and provide any behind-the-scenes details available. And in this regard, The Rescue does amazing emotional work.
As it turns out, cave-diving is not a universally available skill set. Of all the highly-skilled divers in the world, The Rescue tells us, highly skilled cave-divers are in short – like, very short – supply. In fact, the best of these divers are an oddball motley crew of middle-aged, socially-uncomfortable British hobbyists. One of the film’s most shocking revelations is that the Thai Navy seals – with all their experience, training, strength, and youth – were simply no match for the complexities of navigating this flooded cave system compared to the group of slightly disheveled, middle-aged men from the UK who were summoned strictly because of their reputation. These British divers, who volunteered their diving skills and expertise, serve as some of the film’s key interviewees. During the runtime, viewers form a strong bond with these guys. They’re articulate, but somewhat quirky, too, grounding the story and applying an even more down-to-earth focus on the events of early summer 2018.
The Rescue is an effective retelling of the events, covering not just the minutiae of all the hard decisions of those days, but also the politics and awkward international chain of command. Had things gone badly, and public support soured, the divers – volunteers in all this – could possibly have faced charges and prison time. The documentary also gives fair coverage of the significant amount of spiritual capital invested in the operation featuring the visits by spiritual leaders and a compelling argument that the ‘spirit of the princess of the mountain’ was watching over the boys and rescuers the whole time.
The one thing missing from The Rescue, if anything, is a moment or two to humanise the soccer players and the coach at the root of the story. It’s easy to empathise with the parents and beam with hope in the human spirit as the world responded with expertise, support, and prayer. But these kids, and their coach – a hero in leadership his own right – deserved to be named. The innocence with which this calamity began is completely understandable – a post-practice playful spelunking adventure. There really was a sense that tragedy could happen any time anywhere. When this story unfolded, the world was automatically empathetically linked to the personal, gut-wrenching misfortune of this. It’s somehow a shame that in The Rescue, the boys’ stories couldn’t have been a stronger piece of their story.