Thirteen Lives
“Thirteen Lives” shows Ron Howard when he is most effective as a dramatic director- a straightforward narrative about an impossible situation where ingenuity and nerve must be displayed to come out on the other side. Based on an extraordinary true story, there’s an easy through line to be made from this to “Apollo 13,” and while I still think that is the better film, this exemplifies a lot of the strongest qualities of that film.
In 2018, twelve members of a teenage soccer team- along with their coach- went in to a cave to hang out after practice. Unfortunately for them, a torrential rainstorm- one that normally marks the beginning of monsoon season in Thailand- starts, and they become trapped in the tourist cave as it floods with water. The local government- personified by a governor (Sahajak Boonthanakit) who, instead of being taken out of office, is being kept in for the proverbial fall guy if rescue efforts fail- is looking to the country’s Navy Seals to lead the rescue, but also is recommended divers from around the world. Those include Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell), two experience English divers who will try to get further than the Seals can, if only to see if the team is still alive.
While it’s not unreasonable for people to criticize the film for essentially focusing on white outsiders for the story over the families, and local officials, the screenplay by William Nicholson brings a good sense of perspective to the film by not abandoning either completely. I get why this story is being told this way, especially since it is presented as the eventual idea for how to get the boys and their coach out required Harry Harris (Joel Edgerton), an acquaintance of Stanton and Volanthen’s, to be a crucial part. How they get the team out is as insane an idea as working out how to create more oxygen in the void of space on the Apollo 13 mission, but it allows the divers to avoid the personal emotions that would come into play with such a rescue; but, as one of them mentions, if they tried a conventional way and only got one out, they might be heroes; once they succeed in getting more of them out, losing one is out of the question. In the end, their emotions have to be held in check as much as those of the people they’re trying to rescue.
At 147 minutes, “Thirteen Lives” feels too repetitive with all the times we follow the divers going through the caves, but the way Howard films those scenes is a model for tension and suspense. The performances are solid all around, but no one really stands out. The biggest success of the film is not only making a real-life event where the ending is know gripping to watch, but shining a light on what it took to make it succeed. That’s the best thing we can hope for in such a film.
