Title: Thirteen Lives (2022; PG-13)
Director: Ron Howard
Major Themes: True Stories, Thailand
Synopsis: The dramatic story of thirteen boys who were trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018, and how they were rescued.
I’ve always been a fan of biographical or documentary-type movies; there’s something about seeing an event or person’s life play out in front of you that is both inspiring and gripping. When I came across a mention of Thirteen Lives recently, I decided to see if I possibly had it on my New Zealand Amazon Prime Video subscription—and surprisingly, I did! As far as I know, that’s currently the only way to watch this, but I hope eventually this will also be released as a DVD, because it’s an incredible story that will likely be well-loved for many years to come.
Most of us will remember the incident in 2018 when the world watched with bated breath to see what would happen to the twelve boys and their coach who were stuck in a cave in Thailand. I don’t follow the news much at all, but somehow I found out about the story and followed the updates when I could. When the boys were eventually rescued, I thanked the Lord for their deliverance. It was a beautiful story of hope and patience paying off in the end. I forgot about the event until recently, when I saw the movie poster for Thirteen Lives. There was the instant connection, “Oh yeah, I remember that story!” and then the intrigue of what this biographical film might reveal about the story that I hadn’t heard (or picked up on) four years ago when it actually happened.
I was instantly impressed when I started watching. I’m not a good judge of movies, but this one felt professional, heartfelt, and I found myself part of the events as an impromptu jaunt into the mysterious depths of a cave became a trap for thirteen football players. I appreciated that a portion of this film was done in Thai—it wasn’t all English. That made it feel more realistic and even closer to the original story. It also meant that I broke one of my cardinal rules of never having closed captioning turned on for movies (it’s too distracting!), but I love that that piece of the culture was preserved here.
It was amazing to see how people from around the world gathered together to help rescue these boys. That, and the sheer amount of work that went into the rescue, was what surprised me the most. I remember tidbits about the rescue coming through the news, but, understandably, there was nothing close to the detail shown here. It’s a very inspiring story, and it also is one to restore your faith in humanity to some extent.
As far as the content itself, Thirteen Lives is fairly good. Everyone down through the 7-year-old in our family watched it, although I probably wouldn’t recommend it for that age group (see the warnings). There are some very tense scenes in here, and probably the parts that were the hardest for anyone in our family to see were the diving scenes. If you or anyone in your family struggles with being claustrophobic, this film would likely not be a good choice for you, because some of the places the divers had to go through were very tight. Also, as the rescue came about, there were several scenes where you see people getting injections with needles—that part can be hard to watch, even though it was integral to the story. And then, of course, there is some language to contend with.
I was also slightly disappointed by the religious slant of the movie. Several times, priests are shown leading worship to the spirits, and there is never a mention of God other than using His name in vain (which happened several times). I know this film came from a non-Christian producer, so the lack of God didn’t surprise me, but I still was disappointed because He clearly had a hand in these children’s rescue!
Overall, Thirteen Lives was an impressive story and one that I’m sure I’ll enjoy watching again sometime in the future (even though I’ve watched it twice already!). Even though it’s a bit longer than some—2 1/2 hours—I can’t say that I noticed the length too much. The story is so engaging that the time seems to speed by anyway. And as far as I can tell from the research I’ve done, the events depicted are as they originally happened, with one of the only things that changed being the color of the water. When the real rescue happened, the water was apparently a lot murkier and almost impossible to see through. If you’re looking for an uplifting biographical film, and don’t mind the things mentioned in the warnings, I would highly recommend you check this one out!
WARNING: See the notes about claustrophobia and needles in the third-last paragraph above. At 4:00, people are seen bowing to a goddess or statue. At 13:00, a man has a bloody hand. At 19:26, a man steals something. Sh— is used at 26:00, “bl—y h—” at 26:37, and a man is hurt at 28:07. At 29:55, a woman is laying an offering at the base of a shrine. From 30:16 – 30:45, there is a short discussion about a shrine to a princess. People are praying, monks lead a ceremony with candles and incense, and a woman gets some beads blessed at 38:31 – 39:50. Sh— is used again at 50:38, Jesus’ name is used wrongly at 51:54, and buls— is used at 52:52. Several times, there are mentions of the coach teaching the boys to meditate to help them get through, and he walks them through the meditation process from 55:30 – 56:00. “How the h—” is used at 1:08:19, and bl—y at 1:08:54. A man drowns at 1:16:25 (somewhat graphic, although it is realistic). Jesus’ name is used wrongly again at 1:17:45. People are praying to the spirits from 1:26:12 – 1:27:17. F—— is used at 1:36:12, sh— at 1:36:54, jeez at 1:39:06, and f— at 1:41:27. A man is seen in just his briefs from 1:50:10 – 1:50:53. Bl—y is used at 2:10:04. There is an accident and a man gets hurt at 2:10:41. Near the end, a man appears to wonder if a charm he was given helped them in their rescue efforts.
Appropriate ages:
Ages 12 – 15, 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this movie:
Amazon: Prime Video
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