The 33, Review: Deep, Down, Dark, and Die-hard

A Chilean-Colombian co-production, The 33 (Los 33 in Spanish) has a Mexican director, Puerto Rican and the son of Guatemalan immigrants as two of the writers, American, British, Irish, French, Brazilian and Filipino members in the cast, and even more nationalities in the production. This is what we can call an international ensemble film, in the real sense of the world. It is an almost true reproduction of a mining disaster that trapped 33 miners 2,300 ft. below ground level, and rocked Chile, in 2010. It is a tale of die-hard human spirit, and of the need to save endangered lives at any cost.  

Dozens of people from Copiapó, Chile, work in the San José mine. The owner ignores the warnings about the failing stability of the mine, which collapses a short time later. The only path inside the mine is completely blocked, and the thirty-three miners just about manage to get to the rescue chamber. They discover that their radio is useless, the first aid medical kit is empty, the ladders in the ventilation shaft go only a short way up, and there is very little stored food. Mario Sepúlveda (Antonio Banderas) becomes the leader of the miners, dividing the foods rations, and stopping the outbursts of violence or despair. Joining him in group management is Don Lucho (Lou Diamond Phillips). The mining company does not attempt any rescue, since it could cost the lives of the rescuers. Deeply anxious relatives of the miners gather around the gates, desperate to see the miners rescued.

On the advice of the Minister of Mining, Laurence Golborne (Rodrigo Santoro), the President of Chile agrees on active intervention, though the mine is privately owned. The two agree that live TV coverage of 33 deaths will bring a bad name to the government. Golborne rushes to the site, and talks to the manager about possible a rescue mission. When he emerges from the office and announces that nothing can be done, one woman, the sister of a trapped miner, vents her ire on Golborne, and slaps him in public. Golborne decides to take matters into his own hands, and orders the use of state-of-the-art drills to try and reach the chamber. Engineers are brought in from foreign countries, and include Jeff Hart (James Brolin) and Andre Sougarret (Gabriel Byrne).

First exploratory boreholes move off-target, a phenomenon that is common in such operations, but a later one, pursued on mere hope, reaches the required destination. The miners attach a note to the drill-bit, to let the rescue team know that they are still alive, against all odds. They receive new food and clothing, and video communication is established with the surface. A second, bigger, drill system is prepared, to bring out the miners in a capsule, one by one. On the 69^th day, just when the capsule is lifting the first miner to freedom, the drill suddenly stops.

Writing credits go to Hector Tobar, whose book Deep Down Dark is the basis of the film, Mikko Alanne (screenplay, 5 Days of War), Craig Borten (screenplay, nominated jointly for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Dallas Buyers Club), Michael Thomas (screenplay, The Devil's Double, The Night We Called It a Day, B. Monkey) and Jose Rivera (screen story, The Motorcycle Diaries, the first Puerto Rican to be nominated for the Oscar, for Best Adapted Screenplay). Since the book was written after extensive research, I guess the other four writers were needed to turn it into an effective screen experience. Real disaster stories can get boring and documentary-like. It must be said that in spite of so many inputs, there are times when the script does get into the documentary groove. Attempts to enliven proceedings with almost surely imaginary dialogue come across as contrived. There is little real drama, but the tracks of the wife and the other woman, and the pregnant wife about to give birth, are interesting. The love triangle starts as a comic interlude, only to end in warm tenderness.

Director Patricia Riggen (Under the Same Moon, Girl in Progress) may be the only Mexican-born woman directing movies in Hollywood today. She calls herself an actor's director. For her graduation thesis, she interviewed all the female directors in Mexico. There were just four. Riggen has to address several issues here. Political implications of filming a recent event, actors and unit-members of so many nationalities, dialogue mostly in English, etc. There is only one cutaway option for the narrative: the exterior of the mine, where we have the rescue team and the family members. We do have a few shots of the Presidential office in the first half, but then it is all about the rescue chamber. That gets claustrophobic at times. Characterisations sometimes go over the top, but are generally credible. It is a good idea to have the real survivors dining at an elaborately laid out table on the beach, at the end; I do not consider this a spoiler.

Antonio Banderas is dependable and fits the role very well. Brazilian Rodrigo Santoro (Love, Actually, 300, 300: Rise of an Empire) is a bit awkward and tentative, as is French actress with varied European blood, Juliette Binoche (Jurassic Park, The Three Colours series, English Patient). James --Craig Kenneth Bruderlin--‘Brolin’ (Gangs of New York, Vera Drake, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Harry Potter, The Young Victoria, Another Year, The Iron Lady) is okay. Filipino Lou Diamond Phillips Filipino (La Bamba, Stand and Deliver and Young Guns) shines while Irishman Gabriel Byrne (The Man in the Iron Mask, The Usual Suspects, Vampire Academy) goes through the motions.      

Perhaps I am being a little liberal here. The 33 does not have cinematic merit that itself could earn it this rating. I am taking into account that it has steered clear of familiar trappings that go with the genre and tackled a recent factual occurrence with a reasonable amount of objectivity.

Rating: **1/2

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7PX3E9M-1w