It may seem astonishing to some "Yorkshire Pudding" visitors but occasionally my blogposts are underpinned by online research.
See Tigger's Mum's comment above. I already knew about that film. It is called "Thirteen Lives" and I watched it this very evening. It is almost 2hrs and 30 mins long. We have access to Amazon Prime TV and I found the film there.
It makes no reference to the fellow that Bob in Camden, South Carolina has renamed Leon Skum. He didn't even get to be a footnote which was fine by me. Even Vernon Unsworth's role in the film is pretty small but he was the one who effectively made the rescue happen by urging the Thai authorities to fly in a group of experienced British cave divers.
The Thai Navy divers had been trained in sea diving. Obviously, wriggling through complicated pot hole systems is an entirely different proposition.
The cultural context of the drama took me back to my own time in Thailand. Effectively, I spent a total of eleven months living and working over there. With that experience in mind, I thought the film's Thai background was pretty authentic.
"Thirteen Lives" was in the end a feelgood film about human kindness, bravery and ingenuity - fighting to get those twelve boys and their young football coach out of the Tham Luang cave network before heavy monsoon rains made any prospect of rescue utterly impossible
Of course the ending is utterly joyous even though one of the Thai divers lost his life down there.
It was great to watch a film that did not involve guns, murders, detectives or police enquiries. I was gripped by it. Perhaps you would enjoy it too if you can also access Amazon Prime.
The less Leon is mentioned, the better!
ReplyDeleteHe could also be Noel.
DeleteI'll look for it.
ReplyDeleteI think you will enjoy it Bruce.
DeleteThanks. I assumed you had already seen it. I had earlier seen a documentary about the team of cave divers and their skills honed in wet caves in Norway. It made me go look for the movie.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are two other film versions but of course Ron Howard is a film legend in his own lifetime.
DeleteI haven't seen it but I'll look out for it to arrive on TV. I hadn't heard that one of the Thai divers lost his life.
ReplyDeleteAnd a second diver died months later due to an infection he had picked up in the caves.
DeleteI recall the original story unfolding on the news. I dont think I could bear to watch the film. Too stressful for me. But glad Leon Skum does not feature in it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you would like "Postman Pat - The Movie" Brenda.
DeleteLike Addy, I'm not sure the film would work for me. I'm claustrophobic and even scenes in a movie can trigger it for me. Remember when the rich guys attempted to go to the Titanic wreck last year and their vessel imploded? Just watching simulated scenes of the vessel's final moments and the cramped space inside almost made me have a damn panic attack. I had to turn it off.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, it was so wonderful that the team were rescued. Thank goodness.
Okay I understand that Jennifer.
DeleteI think it is wonderful that people are ready to lay down their own lives and save others.
ReplyDeleteVernon was one brave guy.
And so were the cave divers he brought in.
DeleteYour background research is impecable.
ReplyDeleteLike my fashion sense.
DeleteI had heard a very good interview on NPR years ago about the rescue. Some of the divers were involved in that interview. It really was a miraculous thing that the boys were eventually able to be brought out alive. I though the movie was very good. I would expect no less from Ron Howard.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Netflix kind of let Ron Howard and the entire team down by not giving this fine film the drive that it needed.
DeleteEven though I know that the rescue was largely successful (apart from the sad deaths of the two Thai divers) I'm not sure I could watch the film. Although I don't suffer from claustrophobia, I think I'd find the theme stressful.
ReplyDeleteI understand that some people - especially some women - would be irked by such a film.
DeleteI was thinking that we have this book in our school library, but as it turns out we have "All Thirteen," which is a different book about the same event. I could never cave-dive. I find the mere idea of it terrifying. So kudos to those rescuers.
ReplyDeleteMy old next door neighbour - William used to be a cave diver. Those flooded tunnels in limestone hills are certainly not for me.
DeleteI could never cave-dive, either. My uncle used to do a lot of diving, in caves and in the Mediterranean (he used to live in Beirut). He was in danger more than once, and I am sure we know only half of it. The life-threatening moment we know about was not in a cave, though; it happened off the coast near Beirut, when a stingray stung my uncle and the poison in his system nearly made it impossible for him to come up again.
ReplyDeletePotholing doesn't appeal to me. I can get lost quite sufficiently on the surface.
ReplyDelete