Despite a compelling storyline, “The 33” delivers a shallowly developed narrative that skims over the realities of the 2010 Copiapo mining accident.

Rating: 3/5
Directed by Patricia Riggen
Starring Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: Nov. 13, 2015

Based on the true story of the San Jose mine collapse in Copiapo in 2010, the aptly named “The 33” tells the story of the mission to save 33 miners trapped deep underground for 69 days. Though marketed as a serious documentary drama, the film’s cliched comic relief, underdeveloped characters and larger-than-life situations reduce it to a mere shadow of its potential.

Opening with dramatic, sweeping scenes of the Atacama Desert in Chile, “The 33” begins with well-framed cinematography that delves deep into the mine, giving audiences an ominous sense of the depth of the hole and delivering a promising start to the movie. The film then cuts to scenes of the miners and their families’ day-to-day lives: there’s Alex (Mario Casas), a new husband with a pregnant wife; Dario (Juan Pablo Raba), a drunk who sleeps on a bench despite his sister’s (Juliette Binoche) attempts to engage him; Mario (Antonio Banderas), a passionate family man; Yonni (Oscar Nunez), with both a wife and a mistress vying for his affections and many others. Despite setting up heartwarming backstories, these moments are sadly the only glimpses into the characters’ motivations in the entire movie.

The drama unfolds before work on a seemingly normal day as the shift supervisor, Luis “Don Lucho” Urzua (Lou Diamond Phillips), warns his boss of its instability. The unnamed mine owner dismisses the concern in a stereotypical, businesslike way in one of the movie’s only attempts to address underlying social issues behind the collapse. When the mine eventually collapses, families begin to gather and protest. Golborne (Rodrigo Santoro), the idealistic Minister of Mining then convinces the president to stage a government intervention. In the span of a few minutes, Golborne goes from promising Maria to do something about the issue, to proclaiming there is nothing to be done and finally recommitting to action in an overly dramatized manner.

Throughout the rest of the movie, various attempts are made by the pragmatic head engineer Andre Sougarret (Gabriel Byrne) to find the miners, and, of course, in keeping with true Hollywood fantasy, the idealistic Golborne ultimately proposes the successful strategy. Meanwhile, slowly starving, the miners rally under “Super Mario,” whose hope of rescue spurs him to meticulously ration food for all and uplift his comrades’ morale. Banderas’ bombastic performance as Mario, while exaggerated, emphasizes the individual heroism of the character in a thoroughly entertaining manner. After successfully locating the miners, the crew above looks to the next task: struggling to get them out, which takes the bulk of the 69 days they are trapped. However, the movie passes quickly after the miners are found — the starved miners’ delirium is quickly replaced with sudden fame and a vast supply of gifts, and Mario is tempted by a book deal that he ultimately refuses in favor of preserving his friendship. The miners are eventually rescued, and families are triumphantly reunited as all emerge above ground safely. As the credits roll, footage of the actual miners is shown in an admirable attempt at a poignant end to the film, with text that proclaims that the miners were never compensated, attempting to bring up some sort of commentary on social issues surrounding the event.

Instead focusing on the miners’ — particularly Mario’s — individual heroism, “The 33” glosses over the underlying issues of why the mine collapsed, why government support was so delayed, and how such an unsafe mine could be allowed to operate. While still an engaging story, it’s clear that it aims to have more significance than it achieves. Though filmed on location, the script is almost entirely in English; despite being filmed close to the actual mine site, disappointingly highlighting little of the culture it represents. Despite admirable performances by the lead actors, the little character development present in the movie comes solely in the form of comic relief and undermines the depth of the movie.

Peppered with tired tropes, shallow character development, and unnecessarily obtuse portrayals of events, “The 33” aims to add big screen drama to a real event but delivers an entertaining yet unsubstantial piece.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOoIBOYqHyw[/embedyt]