The 33 (15.)
Directed by Patricia Riggen.
Starring Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, Lou Diamond Philips, James Brolin and Gabriel Byrne. 127 mins.
This Hollywood telling of the true story of the 33 Chilean miners who were stuck underground for 69 days before being rescued, goes digging for drama but largely misses. It can clearly see where it is – the machinations of the government wondering if the good PR of mounting a costly rescue effort is worth risking millions of dollars on; the desperate family members gathered at the surface waiting for news; and the claustrophobic intensity of being stuck underground with little food and water and even less of a chance of being rescued – but the film just cant find a way to really work that seam.
The film can only engage with the story in very basic, almost parodic, disaster movie terms. And then not very well - the staging of the initial collapse is underwhelming. They are surprisingly roomy Chilean gold mines. At the start of their shift they drive down big wide thoroughfares to the work surface and after the cave in, the film never fully conveys the sense of confinement, or even properly defines the area they were trapped in.
It's called The 33 but it's all about the 1: Banderas is the star and his miner, Super Mario, is the hero and the leader underground. At the start we see him as the charming party host, he is the one who tries to protect the new guy, the Bolivian, from the bullying of the others and he is the central moving force in the cave. We get to know a few of the others but really they are only there to bounce off the star.
At least he can do the accent. The story is told in English but with everybody doing the accent which leads to some heroic miscasting. There's Binoche wandering around in a shawl, Bob Gunton (who was a White House chief of Staff in a few seasons of 24) playing the Chilean president and Byrne as the head of the rescue team. None of them look or sound South American. Byrne's character is like a plumber who turns up, takes one look at your pipes and shakes his head. Except he doesn't say, “cost ya,” he says “That's not a rock, it's the heart of the mountain: it finally broke.”
.
Directed by Patricia Riggen.
Starring Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, Lou Diamond Philips, James Brolin and Gabriel Byrne. 127 mins.
This Hollywood telling of the true story of the 33 Chilean miners who were stuck underground for 69 days before being rescued, goes digging for drama but largely misses. It can clearly see where it is – the machinations of the government wondering if the good PR of mounting a costly rescue effort is worth risking millions of dollars on; the desperate family members gathered at the surface waiting for news; and the claustrophobic intensity of being stuck underground with little food and water and even less of a chance of being rescued – but the film just cant find a way to really work that seam.
The film can only engage with the story in very basic, almost parodic, disaster movie terms. And then not very well - the staging of the initial collapse is underwhelming. They are surprisingly roomy Chilean gold mines. At the start of their shift they drive down big wide thoroughfares to the work surface and after the cave in, the film never fully conveys the sense of confinement, or even properly defines the area they were trapped in.
It's called The 33 but it's all about the 1: Banderas is the star and his miner, Super Mario, is the hero and the leader underground. At the start we see him as the charming party host, he is the one who tries to protect the new guy, the Bolivian, from the bullying of the others and he is the central moving force in the cave. We get to know a few of the others but really they are only there to bounce off the star.
At least he can do the accent. The story is told in English but with everybody doing the accent which leads to some heroic miscasting. There's Binoche wandering around in a shawl, Bob Gunton (who was a White House chief of Staff in a few seasons of 24) playing the Chilean president and Byrne as the head of the rescue team. None of them look or sound South American. Byrne's character is like a plumber who turns up, takes one look at your pipes and shakes his head. Except he doesn't say, “cost ya,” he says “That's not a rock, it's the heart of the mountain: it finally broke.”
.
