Based on the real-life events from 2010 and Héctor Tobar’s book Deep Down Dark, this predictable film adaptation about 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days works as a survival story championing the human spirit. Banderas shines as the de facto leader, the effect sequences impress and it isn’t hard to see past the film’s flaws (chiefly the formulaic screenplay and a wasted Binoche) in order to appreciate an earnest and, ironically, solidly constructed biopic.
The 33 | Directed by Patricia Riggen (USA, Chile 2015) with Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche. Starts February 11
Originally published in issue #146, February 2016.