Nothing captures the global media’s attention – and reveals its knack for distracting from the issues of the moment – quite like a good old-fashioned triumph-of-the-human-spirit tale, especially if it involves cute kids being rescued by an international cohort of heroes.
So it was in July 2018, when a Thai junior soccer team was saved from an underground cave by the efforts of local Navy SEALS, volunteers, and British and Australian divers – an operation that dominated news headlines for what seemed like forever.
Filmed in large part on the Gold Coast, Thirteen Lives – directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) from a script by Gladiator writer William Nicholson – is the latest and most high-profile of the inevitable screen versions of that event, following the 2019 Thai film The Cave and last year’s National Geographic-produced documentary, The Rescue. (A
