Thirteen Lives recounts the incredible cave rescue of 13 members of a Thai soccer team.
Most of you are likely familiar with the incredible rescue of 13 members of a youth soccer team from a cave in Thailand in 2018, and if you were as captivated by the story as I was, Ron Howard’s dramatization of the 18-day effort – Thirteen Lives – is an absolute must-see.
Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell play the roles of Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, two British divers who played an instrumental role in executing the rescue.
These men first found the 12 boys and their assistant coach in the cave, then led the harrowing effort to get them out.
The movie does come with a warning for anxious moms like myself: Your mind will wander to the dark corners of your biggest fear; imagining one of those trapped children as your own.
The terror of that thought was enough to make my stomach ache, but I was comforted by the fact that, in a rare moment of togetherness, I watched Thirteen Lives with my three grown children sprawled across the living room covered in blankets.
There was no shortage of nerve-wracking scenes and the anxiety that radiated through my TV screen forced a few tears to escape from my eyeballs.
If you think the massive news coverage was enough to convey this story, think again.
There are parts of this rescue that will stun you, especially when they turned the boys into literal “packages.” (You’ll have to watch to understand.)
From the assistant coach who led the boys in meditation to help them deal with fear and hunger to the thousands of people who took part in the rescue effort, Thirteen Lives is a lesson in survival, bravery and the kindness of complete strangers.
Check it out on Prime Video.
