‘The Rescue’ documents a harrowing, heroic feat

Above : The documentary “The Rescue” opens Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre. (Photo/National Geographic)

In the summer of 2018, the world was witness to a story out of Thailand regarding a group of boys trapped in a cave.

Seems the boys, a dozen of them and their assistant soccer coach, had entered the cave system only to be trapped by a sudden torrential rainstorm. For the next two and a half weeks, an international crew worked together on a rescue operation.

And that is the focus of the documentary film “The Rescue,” which opens Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre .

All you have to do is Google the story to see how things worked out, but the film shows just how harrowing the operation truly was. A project, by the way, that ended up with the deaths of two of the rescuers – one at the time, and the other later due to a blood infection.

Here are some critical comments:

Kevin Maher , The Times (UK): “The filmmakers somehow manage to wring nerve-jangling tension from a foregone conclusion.”

Jessica Kiang , New York Times: “An accessible tale of disparate nations and individuals uniting behind a common, noble goal.”

Tomris Laffly , Variety: “A stunning documentary of bone-deep moral resonance and cinematic mastery that deserves to be experienced on the big screen.”

I’ll outline next week’s mainstream offerings tomorrow.