THAI CAVE RESCUE: Features Daring Divers and Flat Emotional Appeals

                                     

                                                                                                                                                          Swetha Sri SR

                                                                                                                                                           2022506027

                                                                                                                                                           B.Tech/IT

The six-part Netflix limited series Thai Cave Rescue doesn’t have it easy. How do you make the 18-day Tham Luang Nang Non ordeal captivating when the story of a dozen adolescent to teen soccer players and their coach trapped deep inside the flooded cave system has been told over and over?

In 2018, a group of 12 boys and their soccer coach decided to explore a famous cave in Thailand. It was supposed to be a quick visit after a sweaty game of football and the boys of varying age groups were all excited about the trip. Eight hours later, they were living their worst nightmare.

Netflix dropped its limited series simply named ‘Thai Cave Rescue’ which looks at the ordeal the Wild Boars team and their coach went through in the 17 days they were trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand.

Although two documentaries and two films have already dramatised the rescue operations, the 6-episode Thai Cave Rescue also tells the backstories of the 12 kids and their 25-year-old coach Eak (Papangkorn Rerkchalermpoj).

It’s the story which holds the attention here as the first episode largely introduces the characters, mainly following 11-year-old Titan, his bond with Eak and how the team unknowingly get drawn in this terrible ordeal due to authorities not putting out a storm alert in time.

The creators Michael Russell Gun and Dana Ledoux Miller do a good job in not straying very far from the reality. The cinematography makes ample use of the lush vegetation that surrounds the cave which exacerbated the rescue operation.

Despite the grim situation the Wild Boars Soccer team faces with no food and water, they are shown to be hopeful guided by their coach who comes to be a father figure. Most of the cast is from the Northern Thailand region and make their debut with the series. They also bear an uncanny resemblance to their real-life counterparts.

There is also a local flavour to the funny exchanges between the Meteorological department employees and the funny dance performed by the Navy SEAL diver for the boys when he delivers their first meal in 10 days.

Thai singer-turned-actor Thaneth Warakulnukroh who plays the Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn shines in the tough job of answering distraught parents, politicians seeking political mileage, managing the intense scrutiny by global media and lead the massive operation that comes to involve 10,000 people.

We also get to see the life Navy SEAL diver Saman Kunan lost when he dove in the cave’s murky floodwaters to deliver oxygen cylinders to the boys. Saman had planned to take part in the cycling marathon with his wife Meow after the rescue, which ultimately doesn’t happen when he dies inside the cave.

Of all the productions so far, Thai Cave Rescue appears to be the most authentic version of the events. The first two episodes are a bit slow, the pace picks up in the later episodes. So stick with it till the end.

It would’ve been so easy for Hollywood to swoop in and overdramatise an extraordinary true story.

The film captures the scale of the operation and the strength of that co-operation, even if it can’t give enough attention to every experience. There are sections that feel rushed and stories that seem untold, but not even a two-and-a-half-hour movie has the time for everything.

And the boys’ perspective will be the focus of the upcoming miniseries Thai Cave Rescue after the team struck a deal with Netflix for their life rights.