Directed and Produced by: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Streaming on Disney+HotstarFrom the adventurous filmmaking duo who made the Oscar winning documentary Free Solo, comes another such documentary. This film follows the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, where 13 kids were stuck in a cave. This mission lasted for about 18 days and more than 10,000 people were involved in this rescue. And this film captured almost the entire event on film. I was wondering how they managed to get so much of footage in such high pressure situations. Whenever I feel - how the hell did they shoot that - I'm reminded of the magic of cinema and this documentary made me feel that throughout. There are dark caves filled with water, and the divers are headed into them without any idea of where they are headed to. And we see this footage. I think they'd have attached cameras in everyone's helmets and would've gotten a lot of footage. But the way it was edited, all of it felt so seamless, in fact some sequences felt as good as they were choreographed. It was a total claustrophobic experience. Them being underwater, them trying to get a few breaths - I could feel all of these.
When I watch such stories where the stakes are so high and it's about survival - I end up zooming out a bit and looking at life from a larger lens. We often worry about the smallest of things, and get so worked up for no reason. And there I'm seeing 13 kids who stayed in a cave for 11 days without any food, without any clue if they'd make it alive outside. Usually, I don't relate to such high stakes situations because I've never been there - but cinema as a medium makes us relate, empathize and remind us to be grateful for what we have. I feel like when we watch such films, we should take the opportunity to zoom out our life a little and introspect.
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