“The Rescue”: Between Heroism and Madness

It is difficult to revert to the front of the screen when revealing this astonishing rescue.

In 2018, a team of young football players was trapped in an underground cave in Thailand. Two weeks later the whole world held its breath until the epic defense. Today, the documentary “The Rescue” not only shows the way defenders worked, but above all it reflects the mobilization of men and women to save others.

Filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Washerhealy and Jimmy Chin, now married and specializing in top documentaries, won their 2019 Free Solo at the Oscars. To document the rescue, this group of soccer players with children went to meet the main players responsible for the rescue, so Rick Stanton, a former firefighter who became a diver specializing in underground caves, becomes the focal point for this gripping documentary.

Exciting interviews allow us to find a solution that “invented” caving dives record holder John Volanten and to get children out of the cave system where children are held hostage – they fall asleep, making it impossible to do without travel.

We also see the testimony of Thai nurse Amp Bangngoen who works as a translator.

We are helplessly predicting Thai special forces and Australian experts, weather reports announcing the monsoon – which will inevitably lead to the sinking of a dozen members of the team. We followed the various stages of the rescue, dumbfounded, which required the cooperation of nearly 10,000 people.

Although we are well aware of how the operation ended, “The Rescue” keeps us alert in front of our screen, but we do not follow the events of June and July three years ago. 2018. And we continue to wonder, almost incredibly, at the very heroism – and even madness – towards the defenders.