On August 5, 2010, a catastrophic collapse occurred deep within the heart of a mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile, with 33 miners still inside. Concern and hope for their safety spread in equal measure, first from the miners’ families, then to the Chilean government and presidency, then to Spanish-language media, until finally news services from all over the world had crews onsite providing 24-hour updates on these men who didn’t even know if anyone above-ground was looking for them.
The miners managed to spread meager supplies across 17 days before contact was made, combating fatalism and resignation while eating little more than two spoonfuls of tuna per day and saying their prayers. Once they were able to communicate with the outside world and receive supplies, they lit up Chilean media with their colorful personalities and inspirational attitudes until they were rescued—every single one, alive—on October 13, 69 days after the initial collapse.
It’s an incredible true story of the rarest kind, where the struggle against impossible odds yields miraculous results. With its cast of interesting characters and a feel-good outcome, the story has every right to become sentimental. This is a tale that practically begs to be made into a film, yet the question of how exactly to pull this off is one that The 33 director Patricia Riggen clearly wrestled with, given that most people watching the movie had already seen it unfold live on television, so surprises and plot twists would be few and far between.
Along the way, most of Riggen’s decisions show a struggle between compelling narrative and mass marketability. Sometimes the shrewder, more overtly commercial choices, work in the film’s favor, as when legendary Chilean television host Don Francisco appears in the film as himself. Sometimes they strain believability, yet don’t entirely break the immersion, such as the characters speaking almost entirely in English. Only occasionally are there scenes that would have been better on the cutting room floor, mostly related to inconsequential or tenuous aboveground conflicts that should have been made more interesting or omitted for the sake of pacing.
For most of the 128 minutes, The 33 is an overall enjoyable yet by-the-book docudrama that is carried more by the truth in its story than by how it’s told. There are some sequences of pure inspiration and stylistic chutzpah that raise the stakes and separate this against-all-odds trope from the other dozen coming out this holiday season. Twice, Riggen allows underlying emotion to triumph over narrative fact in the most stylishly daring sequences of any docudrama this year. As the miners consume what they know to be the last of their rations, the somber meal becomes a raucous feast, with the wives and loved ones joining the festivities. And anyone who doesn’t admit to welling up during Cote de Pablo’s riveting musical number is a liar.
The cast wavers between those who were born to play these parts (Antonio Banderas as de facto leader “Super” Mario Sepúlveda, Lou Diamond Phillips as safety coordinator Luis “Don Lucho” Urzú) and very talented actors who were tragically miscast (Juliette Binoche as a miner’s sister, Bob Gunton as President Sebastián Piñera, Gabriel Byrne as André Sougarret, the engineer in charge of the rescue operation). Burdened by odd choices and conventionality, The 33 is not the best movie it could have been, but it is certainly far better than it had to be.
Playing this week
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield 244-3213
Bridge of Spies
Burnt
Goosebumps
The Intern
Love the Coopers
The Martian
Mockingjay Double Feature
My All-American
The Peanuts Movie
Spectre
Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall 529-3000
99 Homes
Best of Enemies
Coming Home
Hotel Translyvania 2
Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
Miss You Already
Our Brand is Crisis
Rosenwald
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
Suffragette
Truth
