Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Movie Review (TIFF 2021): ‘The Rescue’ is simply the Best Documentary of 2021


Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Synopsis: Follows the story of the Wild Boars youth soccer team who got trapped and their dramatic 2018 rescue.


When coming up with the list of films that I would end up being able to see at TIFF this year, The Rescue was one of the few top priority picks. It is crazy to think that it has been over three years since the events of the Thai cave rescue, as I remember watching the news and the long stretch of time this mission took, not quite believing the result of it all.

This documentary by Chin and Vasarhelyi, who previously made the Oscar-winning Free Solo, is simply the best documentary of the year and it is no surprise that it won the Audience Award at TIFF for the Documentary category. If you somehow did not hear about the events of the rescue when it happened in 2018, then get ready to go into this film and be blown away by what happened.

What shocked me the most about this documentary was how much footage there was of the rescue. Whilst this was clearly a big mission and a moment in history that would live on, the film places the audience in the rescue from start to finish. Even if you know what the result is, the documentary is thrilling as there are so many moments where things can – and do – go wrong. This footage also helps create a clear structure for the film, with a distinct start and finish and with no major jumps in time.

There are interviews that take place throughout the film, primarily focusing on the British divers that were recruited for their cave experience. Not only were the interviews insightful into the mission, giving details on every decision made and explaining how dangerous this rescue was, but the interviews also added a layer of heart and human connection, grounding the situation and showing a side to the divers that other documentary filmmakers wouldn’t have handled. It becomes easy to side with the cave divers and to hope that they pull off the rescue.

This is a rollercoaster of a journey, with some incredible highs as well as some tension and tragedy, and yet it is paced incredibly well for a documentary. Everything that features in this film is important to the story and there are so many aspects that I was not aware of just by seeing the news when this all took place. I did not realize the scale of this cave that the football players were stuck in, so seeing the diagrams and the footage brings the place to life and shows the level of danger the boys were in.

One aspect that keeps the film at an optimistic tone, particularly in the second half, is the football team that is stuck in the cave. Whilst there are no interviews with the boys, there is footage caught by the diving team and to see this team keep their spirits up shows the strength that they have. At such a young age, they kept their spirits going and it is the moments such as seeing them interact with some of the rescue team that makes this documentary as rewarding as it is.

Despite the subject matter and the level of tension that builds within the film, The Rescue is such a feel-good documentary and another success from Chin and Vasarhelyi. Even if you think you know the events of the rescue, there is so much information packed into this film that will leave you amazed. The footage that is captured is so well done and I cannot wait for more people to discover this and to see how it does in this year’s award race. It certainly should be a top contender.

Grade: A

Amy Smith
Amy Smith
Amy joined the InSession Film team in September 2020. Growing up in the north of Scotland, she has been balancing her passion with writing with studying English and Film at University alongside a part-time job. Alongside InSession Film, Amy writes for other publications, including her self-published website Film For Thought. She is also the Arts Editor with a focus on film and cinema for her University’s newspaper and assists in writing for other sections. You can follow her on Twitter @filmswithamy.

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