The Rescue - Il salvataggio dei ragazzi

The Rescue is probably one of the very best documentaries of 2021, and tells the very suspenseful story about the rescue efforts in saving a soccer team of teenage boys from an underwater cave in Thailand back in 2018.

Faults here are minimal. I think it drags a tiny bit in a few small spots in the first half, and the lack of footage sometimes leads to instances where you can tell footage is getting reused because they just didn't have any images of an integral event.

But for the most part the set up is very good, and the second half of the documentary is where it really shines, as the rescue plans and the carrying out of those plans are expertly recounted for maximum dramatic effect, and many of the interviewees are genuinely interesting and engaging people in their own right.

Was a big fan of this directing duo's last documentary too, Free Solo. That one might have had the more spectacular footage, but this one tells a more powerful and emotional story. Both are among the best documentaries of the past few years.

The world was captivated in 2018 when a youth soccer team got trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. This Documentary by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (who won an Oscar for FREE SOLO) follows the rescue mission that was a collaboration of the Thai Naval Seal Team, divers from the U. S. Military, Australia and China (who, for some reason are given particularly short shrift) and other freelance divers from around the world. But, it was a squad of British civilians led by Rick Stanton and John Volanthen who took center stage because of their unique qualifications in such situations.

Vasarhelyi and Chin were somewhat hamstrung in making the Doc for several reasons including the fact that Netflix has locked up the movie rights to the soccer team and their families and couldn't be interviewed (old news footage is used to get some of their side of the story; recreations are also used where no footage is available). The filmmakers made the decision to focus on the rescue personnel - it really should be called "The Rescuers".

Even with these constraints - and the fact that everybody knows how it turns out - THE RESCUE manages to be genuinely suspenseful and moving.

An amazing story of perseverance and triumph, it hit me on a level I didn't expect - after all the ugliness we've seen in the world with Covid, it restored my faith in humanity. Just go see it.

I believe most of the scenes were re-enacted by the same crew that helped in the rescue but that doesn't diminish the greatness of this documentary, on the contrary, they enhanced it. If it weren't for the insistence, tenacity, courage of the British dives, this rescue would not have been successful. The computer-generated images provided us with an idea of how big, long and dangerous this cave is. By also showing the intimate life of these British divers and their reasons and passion for diving, the directors brought more realism, authenticity, humanity to the documentary.

One of the best documentaries of 2021.

Perfect documentary in every sense. All of the details and narrative flowed effortlessly and was all well explained. It was clearly well researched from all sides and care was really taken to make sure all parties were respectfully and faithfully presented. From a technical standpoint it was also incredible. The blend of real footage with reconstruction work, especially in the cave and underwater which are incredibly difficult places to make a film technically, was seemless and fantastic. There was none of the terrible CGI or poor acting or cliche voiceover man that you get in many of the disaster documentary rubbish on TV. But most importantly, the devastating potential of the situation and the incredible courage and bravery and effort that was put forward by so many heroes really shone through - it is a nail biting and also a very emotional watch. The only thing is I am not sure why they didn't give any mention to the second Thai NAVY seal who died in 2019 as a result of a blood infection caught as a result of his brave work on the rescue. My guess is that this happened when production for this documentary was already finished. It is a strange oversight otherwise.