Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It is a tale almost too extraordinary to be true, but it is a very accurate dramatization of the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand in 2018. Following a practice session, a junior football team entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system. In total, there were twelve boys aged eleven to sixteen and the team’s assistant coach exploring the cave before bad weather conditions caused the cave to flood and blocked their way out. They became trapped, and after a parent of one of the boys reported that he had not come home, a rescue operation was organized. The rescue gripped the world and saw a team of almost 10,000 volunteers from seventeen different countries help out. At the forefront of the movie are the acting talents of Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton who have all stressed the difficulties of making this film. It is an important story to tell though, and the final product is as gripping as it is heartfelt.

There was a great cause for concern when the boys’ clothes, shoes, and bikes were discovered just outside the cave’s entrance. With no sign of them, fear of them being trapped inside started to grow. One of the first significant figures on the scene was British caver Vernon Unsworth (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) who lived in Thailand and knew the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system well. His quick interference and knowledgeable advice to the Thai government and authorities are depicted early in the film. Unsworth had spent time in the cave and mapped the cave system with knowledge of the tightest corners and the largest chambers. It was he who recommended contacting experienced cave divers Richard Stanton (Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Farrell). Over the first couple of days, Thai Navy SEAL divers were called in, more flooding blocked vital areas, and water pumps were used to pump out gallons of water.

While diving teams worked at the mouth of the cave, the movie also focuses on what happened above the mountain with the locals and the Illinois-based Thanet Natisri, a Thai water engineer with knowledge about groundwater. His efforts along with the local volunteers helped divert water, though it came at a cost to local farmers. In a touching scene in the movie that is based on the real sacrifices made for the rescue, local farmers accept the idea of the water being diverted onto their crops and fields to increase the boys’ chances of survival. Following the successful rescue, the farmers were all compensated for the loss of their crops.

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Image via Amazon Studios

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Further downpours and a lack of visibility were going to make the rescue mission even tougher. More diving teams from all over the world arrived to help with the search. In the movie, a vigil is held on the ninth day when in fact this took place on the second day upon the discovery of the boys’ handprints and footprints outside the cave. Due to the vastness of the cave system and the continuation of poor weather conditions, many rescue team members found themselves trapped and divers had to rescue them too. As the movie truthfully depicts, they had to dive them out through tight spaces and against strong currents. Chamber 3 in the cave system was used as an operating base where crucial supplies were kept.

Miraculously, Stanton and Volanthen discovered the team on the tenth day of the rescue mission. They were in total darkness, 4 kilometers from the mouth of the cave with the route to them being entirely flooded, but all thirteen of them were alive. The Thai Navy SEALs posted a video clip of Stanton and Volanthen discovering the team to their Facebook page, and millions of stunned viewers around the world saw it. The British divers could only communicate with one of the boys as he was the only one who spoke English. A lot of the dialogue in this scene in the movie is taken directly from the famous video clip. In Thirteen Lives, there is a truly beautiful moment in which the boys’ coach starts to break down and apologize for leading the boys into the cave, but the boys all jump to his defense. The coach, who trained to be a Buddhist monk for 10 years, kept the boys calm and taught them to meditate to give them hope. Following the rescue, there was a discussion about whether the coach should face criminal charges. The boys themselves and their parents have fiercely defended him though, and he is hailed as a hero by many.

The news of their discovery was met with joy and relief from the boys’ parents and the rescue workers, but there was still an incredibly difficult challenge ahead to get them all out safely. As the rescue plan was devised, vital supplies were brought to the boys including blankets, food, and flashlights. A doctor was also sent to check over everyone, and it was discovered that oxygen levels were worryingly low. Anesthetist Richard “Harry” Harris (Edgerton) was contacted when the possibility of sedating each boy before diving them out became an option. However, tragedy struck before the commencement of the rescue when Saman Kunan, a Thai volunteer diver and former Navy SEAL died while attempting to deliver air tanks. He lost consciousness underwater and could not be resuscitated.

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Image via Amazon Studios

In the movie, he removes his air tank after it gets stuck and tragically loses too much oxygen after he gets stuck in a narrow passage of the cave. This heartbreaking moment actually happened on the fourteenth day of the mission, but in the movie it happens on the fifteenth day, just twenty-four hours before the boys began to be rescued. This change in days was likely for dramatic purposes to show the immense danger which was still a likelihood even on the day before the boys were going to be rescued from the cave. Howard dedicated the movie to Kunan, as well as Beirut Pakbara who died a year later from a blood infection contracted during the rescue. Pakbara is not depicted in the film.

The plan to sedate the boys and bring them out was a risky one. There were huge concerns about the safety of getting all twelve boys plus their coach out without any fatalities. If one of them was to wake up underwater, drowning was a high possibility. The decision was taken to have the media and all those not involved in the operation sent away from the cave. Because of the lack of media coverage at this point, it is not concretely clear what occurred. Though later reports revealed that the boys were given doses of Ketamine in order to keep them unconscious. The boys were given all the necessary equipment to complete their journey to freedom, and a team of eighteen rescue divers made their way to them to finally bring them home.

Thirteen Lives shows Harris providing the sedation while Stanton, Volanthen, Chris Jewell (Tom Bateman), and Jason Mallinson (Paul Gleeson) led the diving team in retrieving the boys. Each diver was assigned a boy to accompany through the cave until they made their way out. The actual rescue sequence in the movie is almost an hour long, and is a truly convincing and gripping watch even for those familiar with the story. There are heart-stopping moments in which the boys stop breathing, but the uplifting scenes which follow the rescue are simply incredible. Four boys were brought out over three days with their coach also being successfully retrieved on the third day. Amongst all the delight and relief, Harris is informed his father has passed away – something which really happened, but he was not informed of until later – casting a bittersweet shadow over the joy. These events are accurate to what occurred in real life on the day of the rescue.

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Image via Amazon Studios

Howard took great care in ensuring the film is realistic and respectful. Much of it is in Thai to not only respect the culture but also to remain accurate to the situation. Following the rescue, the boys were all quarantined and initially could only see their parents and loved ones from behind a glass window – which is the final shot of the movie. They were each described as being in a good condition with only minor injuries. Because of the worldwide attention the story had gotten, the team and their coach were presented with many gifts from celebrities and many rescue team members received bravery awards.

It is an astonishing story that Howard dramatizes successfully. The movie does however leave out the involvement of Elon Musk who offered ideas on how to get the boys out. Musk actually had a spat with Unsworth which resulted in Unsworth suing him for defamation. This whole aspect is wisely omitted from the movie with Howard ensuring the focus is on the rescue as it unfolded. Given the number of people involved it is hardly surprising that many heroic rescue team members are not in the movie, but Howard still pays tribute to them all by making Thirteen Lives a moving survival drama that captures the emotion and power of an unbelievable story.