WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Working under pressure. Surviving what appears to be an insurmountable event. Trying to keep your sanity when many others around you are beginning to fall apart under the strain. Never giving up hope. Chile, 2010, and thirty-three miners employed by the San Jose Mining Company enter the copper-gold mine located 45 miles into the Atacama Desert. A rough and hardy group, consisting of several veterans and some newer and less experienced workers make the long decent into the depths for their shift. Despite warning signs of potential instability within the mountain being voiced by mining safety officer Don Lucho (Lou Diamond Phillips), things go on as usual. Until the unexpected disaster occurs with a deep rumbling and collapsing rock above them.
Fortunate to all make it safely to the mine’s “refuge” room they begin to finally settle and take account of each other and the state of need they will be facing at a depth of 2300 ft. and temperatures averaging in the mid-90’s. With attention brought to the situation by the miner’s very insistent and desperate families standing watch outside the facility, Chilean President Pinera (Bob Gunton) sends his Mining Minister, Laurence Golborne (Rodrigo Santoro) to aide in calming people’s unrest and to assure them the government will intervene, calling in expert engineer Andre Sougarret (Gabriel Byrne) to find resolution. As the situation seems hopeless, mining leader Mario Sepulveda (Antonio Banderas) struggles to keep everyone together physically and mentally for sixty-nine grueling days as family and the world holds its breath while the miners fight to persevere.
Next, my Mind:
In her third major film effort, director Patricia Riggen deftly turns on the emotional fireworks and intensity of human endurance in telling the tale of “Los 33”, as the miners involved became known as, which is based on the book by Hector Tobar “Deep Down Dark”. Encompassing the turbulent and ever-shifting state of everyone involved, the story’s pacing is solid and the tone equally immerses the viewer in the frightening perils the miners face intermixed with the anguished, despairing families above, who can do nothing initially to directly assist their loved ones trapped below the earth. And all this inner and outer turmoil is what gives the story its sobering yet victorious edge.
Let it be said that all the actors involved truly excel in this story, but especially all those portraying the thirty-three, as the re-creation of the conditions these men experienced in real life must have had some serious impact on the cast, and after seeing this presented, how couldn’t it. Lou Diamond Phillips and Banderas are superb as the sometimes conflicting voices of reason amidst a situation falling apart as men begin to succumb to anxiety and illness. Both give impassioned performances that do elevate the film. Santoro’s Golborne is the man of means above who becomes the soul of empathy for the families and does his best to push for direct government intervention, even in the face of odds that are stacked against him and the miners.
The deep mine sets are quite impressive and sure give one a realistically direful sense of what these men went though. All in all, “The 33” is yet another new offering to be seen, as in this modern age of terrorism, war, debatable politics, and scandal, it is a necessary thing to take in something that reminds us of how amazingly resilient human beings are and that together with faith, miracles can and do happen.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
