Film Review: Thirteen Lives

                         Thirteen Lives

In 2018, the coach and 12 members of a boys’ soccer team called the Wild Boars were trapped while climbing in a famous system of underground caves in Thailand when a monsoon flooded the caves.

The word went out, attracting the Thai Navy Seals and other volunteers from all over the world. 

“Thirteen Lives” is Director Ron Howard’s filmed account of that harrowing but ultimately heroic and definitely historic event.

Howard dips into the politics of the situation, but ultimately credits local authorities with accepting all international volunteers, concentrating on three Brits with extensive experience in underwater rescue.

Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen play John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, who arrive first, assess the situation and plan the effort. These two experienced divers find the team – all alive and very hungry – but then must figure out how to get them to the entrance of the cave, some distance away.

Stanton suggests something that sounds insane. To avoid panic and possible drowning, he suggests they bring another Brit – anesthesiologist Richard “Harry” Harris (Joel Edgerton) – to sedate the boys and then float their sleeping bodies to the cave’s entrance, periodically topping off the anesthesia. It sounds like the plot of a crazy sci-fi movie. 

As the water level rises, the local authorities realize that rain must somehow be diverted from the caves to the surrounding fields as a survival technique. Unfortunately, this will flood the farmlands and farmers will lose their crops. But they agree to do what must be done.

One thing I like about Howard is the way he sets up shooting. His films are always good to watch, and this is no exception, adding the human dimension of anxious family members, worriedly waiting at the caves’ entrance for word of their loved ones.

It helps, too, that none of the actors are playing star here; all are in documentary mode.

Howard had his own problems with this story. Filmed during the pandemic, some of it was done on Zoom and blue screen was used for some other parts. But the whole makes for a fascinating film.

"The Thirteen" is streaming on Prime Video.