Mark Reviews Movies: THIRTEEN LIVES

Thirteen Lives, United Artists Releasing/Amazon Studios

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 4, 2022

In Thirteen Lives, director Ron Howard tells the story of the 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand without any frills and with a pointed sense of clarity—in terms of what happened, how it happened, and why it happened, as well as in communicating just how uncertain and doubtful any kind of rescue seemed at the time. The film (not to be confused with another one about the same cave rescue) is almost exclusively about geography, geology, various engineering and diving processes, and the organization of a vast network of government officials, military personnel, and civilian volunteers into something like a single-minded organism.

If all of that sounds technical, it is, because this real-life tale is inherently such and should remain that way. However, Howard and screenwriter William Nicholson know exactly how to translate such matters into sound, engaging, and tension-filled drama.

Take the biggest challenge that the rescue divers face, which has to do with transporting 13 people—none of them experienced with diving—under the water, through the tight spaces, and around the various natural obstacles of the cave system in which they're trapped. Those who do not know the specifics of the rescue operation, either from only hearing brief snippets of it on the news (or by missing the comprehensive 2021 documentary The Rescue, which already covered much of what this film does—making Howard's dramatization even more impressive), might not see an issue with this.

The film is meticulous but subtle in the way it gradually reveals one issue, then another, and then about a dozen more with the "simple" notion of simply letting the boys and their coach swim out of the cave with some experienced divers. First, there's the distance from where the trapped people are to the safety of an emptied chamber, and for the initial part of this story, no one even knows where that first location actually is. What the people behind the search-and-rescue mission do know is that the soccer team is stuck farther along the cave than even the Thai Navy SEALs feel comfortable diving in one trip. Second, there's the issue of time, with any expedition taking multiple hours to get from the cave entrance to anywhere of promise within the system.

Howard communicates these facts simply, by overlaying a map of the cave on sequences of the Navy divers and volunteer rescuers maneuvering through the cramped spaces, the debris-littered water, the suit-tearing stalactites, the skin-puncturing rocks (After each dive, it's impossible not to note how many cuts and how much blood are on those hands), and turns that require bodies and equipment to change bearings and position. Each of these sequences excels at creating tension, even though we know how this story will end, and it's all because of how tactile the dirty water, the sound of metal scraping on rock, and the increasingly dreadful sound of air being consumed by the masks are within the scenes. Beneath the map, a timer tells us just how long it has taken for these divers to get to these chambers, which are technically nowhere of worth in the big picture, since the trapped people aren't to be found there.

The biggest hurdle, of course, is that the boys and their coach won't be prepared for any of this. On their first trip into the Tham Luang cave, British rescue divers Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen, sternly pragmatic to the point of seeming—and possibly being—antisocial) and John Volantehen (Colin Farrell, warm and considerate and increasingly overwhelmed by the fear of failure—and the very human cost of that failure) come across a worker, setting up pumps in the cave, who is stranded by a flash flood. This is an adult man, who came into this cave knowing the risks and the general geography, and upon trying to help him swim to safety in SCUBA gear, the two divers nearly lose the man to panic.

If he can't handle a relatively short swim, how could a child—let alone 12 of them, as well as a young man—possibly handle the longer, more dangerous swim? The rest of the film has Rick and John, along with local officials and other foreign divers, trying to answer that question.

Some of those officials include province governor Narongsak (Sahajak Boonthanakit), who's set up as a politically disgraced fall guy but takes genuine responsibility for the rescue and its potential failure, and SEAL captain Arnont (Theerapat Sajakul), who's possessive about his men's role in the mission but gains humility. As for the divers, the most notable among them for the "crazy" and/or "brilliant" answer is Australian Harry Harris (Joel Edgerton), who's an anesthetist by trade.

Also figuring into the plan are divers Jason Mallinson (Paul Gleeson) and Chris Jewell (Tom Bateman), with the latter becoming the center of a moment that shows even the most seemingly fearless succumb to the strain of such unthinkable pressure. Even when this story pauses to breathe, those breaths are fast, heavy, and on the verge of breaking down in terror or anguish.

Along the way, Nicholson and Howard spend time with the families of the boys, whose hope turns to frustration to despair to hope again (so much of that having to do with what Rick, who initially doesn't understand the concept of tact, and John, who has to teach his diving partner, communicate in words and attitude), and others helping with the rescue in their own ways. The scope of these other efforts is limited to what's absolutely necessary for the plan to work—mainly the people putting in those pumps and others on top of the mountain above the cave trying to dam off sinkholes.

Still, that work does give us a broader sense of how much time, effort, and sacrifice so many people expended to save lives (There's a haunting moment, as the rescue reaches a tipping point, in which Howard's camera shows water being diverted from the mountain—a necessity for the mission—to the rice fields of multiple farmers—a necessary sacrifice of their own necessities). To the point, though, Thirteen Lives tells a story of complex processes with admirable simplicity and no shortage of humanity.

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