THE 33

US, 2015, 127 minutes, Colour.

Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliettw Binoche, Lou Diamond Philips, Mario Casas, Gabriel Byrne, Bob Gunton, James Brolin.

Directed by Patricia Riggen.

The 33 of the title are the miners who were trapped for almost 70 days in a mountain collapse in the desert in Chile, 2010.

This is a re-enactment of the disaster, establishing the happy atmosphere of the men and their families and their village, the going to work, the suggestion that the mine in the mountain is unsafe and authorities rejecting this, the travel to the mountain, the long drive in the vehicle going further down in depth.

The disaster happens fairly quickly, collapse, injuries, the men trying to escape, gathering together, all surviving, going to the mine centre where there is shelter and some food. The film will intercut with the miners, their managing, working together, the issue of food and rationing, some prejudice against a Bolivian, the toll on the long wait.

Meanwhile, on the surface, the focus is on the women, at the fences, not given information, protesting, the group led by a very feisty Juliette Binoche.

Then there is the political response, the president of Chile, Bob Gunton, and his mining Minister, Rodrigo Santoro, humane man, inexperienced, who goes to the site, is confronted by the women, but works to find experts to come in for the drilling. They are led by Gabriel Byrne.

So, there is the intercutting between life on the surface, the establishing of a kind of village for those waiting, the media, the various experts. There is tension, mistakes made, and eventual breakthrough.

However, the ordeal was to continue, attempts to find ways in which they could bring them into the surface, drills from Australia, Canada, the United States, the need for huge magnets from Brazil to move iron blocking the descent. But, in the meantime, the men were provided with food, necessities, moral support, cameras and the ability to talk with their families.

Ultimately, the operation was a great success, the men rescued but, as the film indicated the company not found guilty of negligence, the men not compensated – but the credits sequences showing them, in fact, faces and names, and a final group photo – and the information that many of them participated in the making of the film.

Audiences might like to compare Ron Howard’s 13 Lives and the rescue of the boys from the Thai tunnel or A.J.Bayona’s Society of the Snow, the survival of the Uruguayan football team the crashed into the Andes in 1972.

1. Based on a true story? A few years after the events? Some of the former miners, out of work, participating in the film? World headlines? International collaboration?
2. The setting in Chile, the desert, the towns, the mine, the tunnel, the depths, the roads and vehicles, the rest centre? The president’s offices? The building up of the community outside the mine entry? The musical score, Latin overtones and instruments? The central song and its Cappuccio
3. The setting, the town, the miners, preparing for work, the party gathering, Elvis’s song, happy spirits? The men, wives, daughters, the children? The status of the mine, since 1989, Don Lucho and his concerns, the boss waving them away?
4. The journey to the mine, spirits, the long entry, the drive, the only way out? The image of the receding entry?
5. The work, the minerals, the shifts, the collapses, the rocks falling, injuries, the men escaping, the man hanging over the abyss, the vehicles, the crashes, assembling, the 33 still alive, going to the centre?
6. The drama showing the number of days, the cumulative effect? The men, interactions amongst themselves, friendly, the bigotry against the Bolivian, the issue of the food, limits, Mario as leader, with the key, over the days, controlling the meals, every 24 hours, the limits? The men and their hopes? Tensions, some with nightmares? The passing of the days, the radio not working, headlights?
7. The drama the top, the women and families, at the gate, Maria, her leadership, the earlier seen giving the sandwich to her brother, speaking out, the confrontation with Laurence, getting him to promise, slapping his face, her leadership, everybody staying at the fence, throwing stones, the demands? The reaction of the authorities, the police?
8. The political repercussions, the president and the Minister, the discussions, personal concerns, political concerns? The personality of the Minister, suit and tie, going to the site, the confrontation with Maria? The contact with the companies, Andre Sougarrett, his expertise, the geological aspects, mining aspects, the depths, boring into the Rock?
9. The interactions between Sougarrett and Laurence, hopes, missing out by 10 m, time passing, Sougarrett prepared to give up, Laurence and the talk was Maria, learning by mistakes, Laurence and the proposed solution, Sue Garrett weary, agreeing, the new tactic? Eventually breaking through?
10. The men, hearing the drilling, stopping, hopes, upset, the joy of the final breakthrough?
11. The aftermath, food, clothing, technology, the cameras, the man able to talk to camera to their family? Maria disappointed, waiting for her brother? The boost of morale? The television programs, the journalist, the commentary? The issue of Mario and writing the book and the contract? The men’s reactions, his later reaction?
12. The task of bringing them into the surface, the television series, the Australian solution, the Canadian solution, effective, failing? Bringing in the Americans? The discovery of the iron, the bringing in of the magnets? Able to break through? The long time?
13. The capsule eventually getting through, Alex, age, his wife, pregnant, his going up, the tension with the capsule stuck, the release, his emerging, reunion? The men continually coming up, families? The background of the man with the wife and mistress and her not being allowed into the compound? His wife going off? Maria and her brother, his searching for her, the reunion?
14. The impact the Laurence, his human involvement, the politics, interacting with Sougarrett and the others? With the president?
15. A world achievement, collaboration, technology, rescue, the long time?
16. The postscript with the actual men, faces and names, the information that the company was not held responsible, no recompense for the men? The final photo and they gather together?