User reviews

Footage, narratives, subject, honesty. This hits all emotions and captivates you start to finish.

Dramatic, without cinematic embellishment. Last Breath provides a rare look at a little known profession and an unemotional recounting of heroism after a catastrophic technological failure.

Aside from space, there can be no working environment as potentially dangerous, perilously exacting, and psychologically isolating as the ocean floor. Colloquially known as "doing sat", saturation diving is a technique to reduce decompression sickness amongst divers who work at great depths for long periods. Living in either an onboard pressurised capsule or a self-sustaining pressurised underwater habitat, divers breathe a helium-oxygen mix that prevents nitrogen narcosis, transferring to and from the work site via a pressurised diving bell. Written by Alex Parkinson and directed by Parkinson and Richard da Costa, Last Breath is the latest in the man vs. nature subgenre of documentary filmmaking. Using a mixture of talking head interviews, black box footage, camcorder material, and excellently mounted reconstructions, the film plays like an underwater survival thriller. And although the directors' insistence on building to a predictable and overly manipulated pseudo-twist undermines the seriousness of the material somewhat, with the story needing no such embellishment, this is still a superbly realised film; tense and fascinating, informatively dealing with a subject about which the vast majority of people will know next-to-nothing.

September 18, 2012; the commercial engineering ship Bibby Topaz is 115 miles off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea, assigned with testing the safety of a drilling manifold in the Huntington Oil Field. Descending in the diving bell are the relatively inexperienced Chris Lemons, the stoic David Yuasa (so much so, his nickname is "Vulcan"), and Lemons's mentor and father-figure Duncan Allcock. As the men descend, the Topaz is hit with bad weather, although not bad enough to cancel the dive (with dive supervisor Craig Frederick explaining, "we were at the limits of diving, but it wasn't undivable"). As Lemons and Yuasa begin working, Allcock remains in the bell to feed out the divers' "umbilicals"; a mass of cables that brings them warm water, light, and oxygen, and keeps them connected to the Topaz's computer and AV systems. At a depth of 300 feet, in pitch blackness, with ten times atmospheric pressure and temperatures just above freezing, without an umbilical, a diver can't last long. With the Topaz locked into position by its Dynamic Positioning (DP) system, everything is going well until the system inexplicably fails, something no one on the boat had ever seen happen. With winds now reaching 35 knots, causing 18-foot swells, the Topaz quickly begins to drift out of position, dragging the bell with it, which in turn drags the men via their umbilicals. Frederick immediately orders Lemons and Yuasa back to the bell, but Lemons's umbilical snags on the manifold, and after being pulled taut, eventually snaps. With only five minutes of emergency oxygen in his reserve tanks, and cut off from all contact with the bell and the surface, his crewmates are horrified to realise it will take them at least 30 minutes to return to their position and try to find him. That's if they can even regain control of the Topaz's DP at all.

Although the talking head interviews are a little flat, the rest of Last Breath looks great, with the reconstructions so well done (it helps that the actual participants play themselves) that they blend seamlessly with the footage shot from the divers' helmet-cams and the Topaz's cameras. The film opens with "first-person" camcorder footage of Lemons giving a tour of the Topaz, explained naturally insofar as he and his fiancée, Morag Martin, tended to send one-another videos rather than writing emails or letters. This inculcates the audience immediately into the milieu, insofar as Lemons is literally explaining the workings of the job, especially important in introducing the concept of saturation diving. Once the repair begins, the film adopts an almost pseudo-science-fiction tone, with the foregrounding of unfamiliar equipment and complex ship computer systems, reminding me of something like Abyss (1989) or Leviathan (1989).

Also aesthetically important is the score by Paul Leonard-Morgan. Is he aping Hans Zimmer? Absolutely. But there are worse composers to emulate, and it's still an extremely effective score, a little overwrought in places, but it does its job admirably, especially in a scene which sees Yuasa set out to try to find Lemons, with Parkinson and Da Costa using Yuasa's narration over shots of each interviewee silently reflecting on the incident, and Morgan's evocative score swelling in the background.

The film's structure is both its greatest strength and, perhaps, it's most significant failing. It's difficult to discuss this aspect without spoilers, but essentially, Parkinson and Da Costa introduce a twist of sorts in the last act, and the documentary then literally rewinds to give us the perspective of an interviewee we haven't seen up to this point. It's both an interesting and irritating technique; interesting insofar as you don't usually see that kind of structural trickery in a documentary, irritating because it's wholly unnecessary. The directors would have been better served to simply trust in the strength of their story, which is more than able to stand on its own, sans embellishments. And although it isn't as damaging as a similar example in Three Identical Strangers (2018), primarily because the surrounding material is handled more competently, with less crass emotional manipulation, it is nevertheless an ill-advised technique to introduce in a form supposed to eschew sensationalism and narrative chicanery. This is compounded by the fact that it's easy to see it coming, and anyone who spends more than 20 seconds looking into the film will have the twist spoiled, rendering it pointless at best, distracting at worst; running the risk of lessening the impact of the psychological effects that the incident had on the people involved. On the other hand, there's no denying that the structure adds to the mounting tension, I'm just not 100% convinced that the trade-off is worth it.

This misstep notwithstanding, Last Breath is an excellent piece of documentary filmmaking. Although it's not quite up to the dizzying standards of something like Un jour en septembre (1999), Bus 174 (2002), La Mort suspendue (2003), or Under the Wire (2018), there's still a lot to recommend it. Combining elements of the survival documentary subgenre with the aesthetic tropes of the submarine/submersible movie, the film admirably conveys what for these men is a normal working day; claustrophobia, isolation, an unforgiving environment. Cogently depicting the very strong bonds that form in such circumstances, the film presents a group of very likeable people who have as much respect for one another as they do reverence for the ocean in which they ply their trade. In one respect, it's a story of blue-collar solidarity, in another, it's a slick thriller. Providing plenty of material for the audience with which to empathise, Last Breath is as worth checking out for its quieter human elements as it is for its grandiose struggle against-the-odds storyline.

One of the best true life documentaries i've ever seen. Couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Please watch this, you definitely won't be disappointed I'll always remember this one.

An amazing "Docu-drama" proving that real life can be more dramatic than fiction. Great insight into the life and demands of being a modern day "saturation" diver. The story focuses on one individual's fight for survival following catastrophic equipment failure, but manages to produce a roller coaster of emotion, with the audience laughing nervously one minute and deathly silent the next, as the drama unfolds. Not to be missed.

I wasn't expecting this to be as catching and I thought it would be really dragged out. However, this was really enjoyable and tense. Great documentary.

I liken this to the other great docu style movie, Touching the Void. Passing back and forth between the people that were there, some reconstruction and real footage, it never lets up from the start. Emotions run up and down as various people recount what happened, it's easy to get swept into it and feel their pain. A simply amazing story and I don't see a better way of telling it.

Human stories such as these help remind you how we take each day for granted, until unforeseen events like this come around and everything and everyone become so much important again. Take care.

Such an incredible story, very emotional. Wasn't prepared for this film, originally thinking it was a fictional film until a few mins into watching it realised the footage looked very real. Really hits you hard and watching some of the footage leaves you with a lump in your throat.

A former diver myself, i know how it is . Good money , adventure, and then bang ! Trouble... Well done the script, directorship , and all the rest of the crew . This is raw emotions, this is real life folks, not some Rambo , not some Bond... This is every day people with trouble to solve and real stories to tell that will make you cringe , laugh and cry , and all that on the camera. So, of you go to Oscars , lot !

When the GPS coupled computers, three of them, simultaneously brake down the captain does two things: he un-couples the navigation computer and takes over manually and a hard computer reset (wich would have solved the problem instantly). Instead he uses the ships harbour docking system to maneuver in a storm. Impossible.

Further more when the ship is adrift he should immediately sound red alert for all crew, not after 15 minutes.

The computer reset occurs after the damage is done. Unbelievable.

Watching Last Breath is an intense experience, amplified by the fact this was a real life event! Being stuck on the ocean floor is such a terrifying thought, and watching what happens to Chris Lemons certainly does elevate your heart rate!

In many ways it reminded me of Touching The Void, in terms of using real footage, re-enactments and interviews with the real life characters. This set up certainly makes the impact of the story far heavier, and immediately connects you emotionally to what you're seeing.

I did feel that they tried to draw an emotional response from you a little too much at times, rather than focusing on the events...but it's done well and is a minor complaint. It could have an hour long episode for a TV series about survival instead of a stand alone documentary, because what happened is rather concise, rather than a long drawn out ordeal.

The title is apt, because my wife and I were literally holding our breath for large parts of it...

Firstly how anyone can give this 1-3 stars is beyond me. This is amazing and had me in tears. What a story. A must watch for anyone liking touching the void, free solo etc. Just be prepared

Like it was a compelling story, and the footage is so interesting, wish we could have had more time with the "event" of it as far as how it must have felt to be stranded and then seeing rescue. He waved when they got there? Maybe a reflex or conviction but I suspect no recollection which is expected but disappointing.

But ya did the crew not like him??

"he wasn't just some person. He was the ... human you know, who was next to you on the ship"

"I don't remember being that upset about Chris, he wasn't my best mate he wasn't my kid, sh*# happens"

"He was alive! ...people were relieved... they didn't want to be involved in a diving fatality"

Like, y'all! XD.

Everything about this film from start to finish is an emotional rollercoaster not only for the viewer but for those involved. I was fixated for the duration and only drank one beer. An excellent piece of film making beautifully crafted.

Truly gripping real life experience well filmed. Exceptional true life experiences be Chris Lemon, Duncan Allcock and Yuas.

Goes to show how good story telling, basic footage and great directing is more than enough to keep audience captivated. No explosions, no big budget special effects required, just a great true story. Good team work, definitely worth watching

I expected this documentary to explore some background of a guy struggling for air and breath on the bottom of the sea. Accidents happen, so this one is not only and not unique. Instead of this we get extreme boring story, with a lot of suprising statements of the ship crew and divers that makes the whole thing quite hard-fetched. Then we get a lot bloated emotions. And that's basically it.

The other review giving this ten out of ten is spot on. This is an amazing piece of work. Very well filmed and edited. I highly recommend it.