The Rescue (2021 film)

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The Rescue
Several people in a cave.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Produced by
  • Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
  • Jimmy Chin
  • John Battsek
  • PJ. van Sandwijk
CinematographyDavid Katznelson, Ian Seabrook
Edited byBob Eisenhardt
Music byDaniel Pemberton
Production
companies
Distributed byGreenwich Entertainment
Release dates
  • September 2, 2021 (2021-9-2) (Telluride)
  • October 8, 2021 (2021-10-8) (United States)
Running time
114 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.2 million[1][2]

The Rescue is a 2021 documentary film directed and produced by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. It follows the Tham Luang cave rescue, a 2018 mission that saved a junior association football team from an underwater cave.

The film had its world premiere at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 8, 2021.

Synopsis

The film follows the Tham Luang cave rescue.

Production

In March 2019, it was announced Kevin Macdonald would direct a documentary film revolving around the Tham Luang cave rescue, with National Geographic Documentary Films set to produce.[3] In February 2021, it was announced Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin would replace Macdonald as director, though he would remain as executive producer on the project.[4]

The filmmakers had difficulty securing rights to the story, with National Geographic able to secure the rights to the divers' story, while Netflix had acquired rights to the experiences of the soccer team, preventing them from telling their story in the film.[5]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2021.[6][7] It was also screened at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2021,[8] where it won the People's Choice Award for Documentaries.[9]

Greenwich Entertainment will distribute the film in the United States.[10]

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film made $69,662 from five theaters.[11]

Critical response

According to review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 91 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8.5/10.[12] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[13]

Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film 4/4 stars, writing: "As with Chin and Vasarhelyi's previous films, ignore any instinct you may have to pass up this movie because it sounds too hyper-specific: an activity you're not really that interested in, and a story whose ending you've already heard."[14] Simran Hans of The Observer gave the film 4/5 stars, describing it as a "hugely involving documentary", and wrote: "Vasarhelyi and Chin recreate the sense of the clock running down as oxygen levels in the cave decrease, while the monsoon outside rages."[15] Kevin Maher of The Times also gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "the film-makers somehow manage to wring nerve-jangling tension from a foregone conclusion".[16] John Lui of The Straits Times also gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "By calmly describing everything that could go wrong while hauling 13 non-divers across 4 km of twisty, submerged passages, the experts evoke a sense of dread that would make a horror film-maker proud."[17] Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Not only is the story compelling, but thanks to how much the event captured the interest of the world's media, there is a lot of archive footage to splice in among the generous wodges of talking-heads narration from the main participants." However, she criticized the music used towards the end of the film as "cheesy" and questioned why the rescued children were not interviewed.[18]

Roxana Hadadi of RogerEbert.com was more critical of the film, giving it 2.5/4 stars. She wrote: "between Vasarhelyi and Chin's inability to speak with the boys or their families, and the documentary's initially languid pacing, "The Rescue" feels like half a story told fairly well, but still, half a story."[19] Cassie Da Costa of Vanity Fair wrote that the film "plods along without taking any formal risks", adding: "I couldn't shake the feeling of watching a network TV documentary, designed to feed the audience with detail after detail, but not to generate any significant ideas from the facts and images it contains."[20]

Awards and nominations

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Toronto International Film Festival September 18, 2021 People's Choice Award for Documentaries The Rescue Won [21]
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards November 14, 2021 Best Documentary Feature Nominated [22]
Best Director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Won
Best Score Daniel Pemberton Won
Best Cinematography David Katznelson, Ian Seabrook and Picha Srisansanee Won
Best Editing Bob Eisenhardt Nominated
Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 17, 2021 Best Original Score – Documentary Daniel Pemberton Nominated [23]
National Board of Review December 3, 2021 Top Documentaries The Rescue Won [24]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards December 6, 2021 Best Documentary Nominated [25]
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association December 20, 2021 Best Documentary Film Runner-up [26]
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle January 10, 2022 Best Documentary Feature Nominated [27]
Austin Film Critics Association January 11, 2022 Best Documentary Nominated [28]
Seattle Film Critics Society January 17, 2022 Best Documentary Feature Nominated [29]
Houston Film Critics Society Awards January 19, 2022 Best Documentary Feature Nominated [30]
Online Film Critics Society Awards January 24, 2022 Best Documentary Nominated [31]
Cinema Eye Honors March 1, 2022 Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature Feature E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, P.J. van Sandwjik and John Battsek Nominated [32][33]
Outstanding Production Nominated
Outstanding Editing Bob Eisenhardt Nominated
Outstanding Cinematography David Katznelson, Picha Srisansanee and Ian Seabrook Nominated
Audience Choice Prize E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Won
The Unforgettables Rick Stanton Won
Directors Guild of America Awards March 12, 2022 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Nominated [34]
British Academy Film Awards March 13, 2022 Best Documentary Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, John Battsek, and P. J. Van Sandwijk Nominated [35]
Golden Reel Awards March 13, 2022 Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Documentary Deborah Wallach, Roland Vajs, Nuno Bentro, Ben Smithers Won [36]
Satellite Awards April 2, 2022 Best Documentary Film The Rescue Nominated [37]
Producers Guild of America Awards March 19, 2022 Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures Nominated [38]
News and Documentary Emmy Awards September 29, 2022 Best Documentary Nominated [39]
[40]
Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary Won
Outstanding Direction: Documentary Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Won
Outstanding Research: Documentary Santipong Changpuak, Susan Johnson, Chloe Mamelok, Thanet Natisri, Claudia Phaa Rowe Won
Outstanding Writing: Documentary The Rescue Nominated

See also

References

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  2. ^ "The Rescue (2021)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
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