Yingjiu Yezhu Dui

In the summer of 2018, the world was transfixed by the plight of a Thai boys' football team trapped in a flooded cave for over two weeks. Against all odds, the boys were rescued in a daring and difficult mission thanks to an international coalition of divers and experts. It's a story made for the movies, and Thai-Irish director Tom Waller (The Last Executioner (2014)) adds an extra dose of realism to the nail-biting tension: four divers recruited for the mission play themselves in this stirring account of a human miracle. Focusing on the rescue efforts, the film uses a journalistic style in taking us to the chaotic, multilingual base camp and into the dark waters of the cave with the divers. Waller lays out the daunting logistics and risks of the rescue mission with clarity and urgency as they unfold against a background of local Thai culture and spirituality. This unsentimental yet moving tribute to the heroism and humanity of those, from all walks of life, who cared and sacrificed for the boys encapsulates why the story captured people's imagination in the first place.