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Not a Movie Review: ‘Fifteen Lives,’ My Thai Soccer Boys Story
Well, I just went to Amazon.com in search of two-door bypass barn-door hardware (as you do), and the first thing I came across was a huge ad for Ron Howard’s new movie, Thirteen Lives, which tells the story of the Thai soccer team trapped in the flooded cave, one which captured the world’s attention in July of 2018.
Due to my abysmal satellite Internet connection (Hughes) and my subpar cellular data rate (AT&T)–I really do live in something approximating the Bermuda Triangle when it comes to contact with the rest of the world–it’s very difficult for me to stream anything because, buffering, hiccupping, waiting around for hours, and so on.
I’ll look and see if it’s available via any other avenues; otherwise, I’m going to have to go visit a friend or family member, or drive to the Giant Eagle parking lot (the attached strip mall has an AT&T store), and watch it on the iPad in my car.
Because watch it, I will (as Yoda might say).
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been at ground zero of a happening which has captured the attention of the world (it used to happen a lot more often in my early childhood), but there I was. Perhaps I’ve not completely lost the knack. I hope not, anyway.
In any event, my story has a couple more lives attached to it than does that of the movie.
Early in the morning of July 7, 2018, I landed at tiny Chiang Rai airport, the main concourse of which is about as big as my living room. Nevertheless, my Gracious Host (GH) and I chased all over looking for each other for about forty-five minutes before finding ourselves and deciding that my luggage (most of which was stuff I’d brought at the request of aforementioned GH, and in order to do which I’d had to ditch half my own stuff and buy a larger suitcase) necessitated taxi travel back to home base. GH, who’d arrived at the airport on a small motorbike didn’t know his home address, despite having lived at it for approximately nine months, or at least he couldn’t, or wouldn’t,** communicate it to the guy at the taxi stand, so that involved a further wait of about 45 minutes, until GH’s landlord could be reached, so that he could speak, at that point, to the available taxi guy in actual Thai. Ordinarily not a problem, but after a flight which–end to end–comprised 34 hours, I wasn’t in a particularly gracious mood myself when it came to further waiting around. Still, we made it home, and the subsequently proffered gin and tonic and then a shower (I’m a girl with her priorities straight) made the world look a whole lot brighter.
Since I’d caught my second wind and was determined not to succumb to jet lag (a time difference of +11 hours), we forayed out that evening to the Chiang Rai street fair. The roads in the central city close for the pedestrian festivities, and (it seems like) hundreds (thousands) of street vendors show up with food and entertainment. Much fun, much to see, and much to entertain, although I was–as I am even in the US–somewhat leery of meat on a stick. Perhaps that’s just me. But the local sausage! And the pastries!
And the world news media! They were everywhere. As I discovered during the next several days, on every foray out to see the sights. Road blocks. Traffic jams. Cameras. I got to thinking, “Lord, I wonder how long it will be before one or another of my friends in one or another country phones my family to say, “Hey, I just saw “She” on the TV on News at Eleven. She’s in Thailand. Did you know?”
Yes, Karen. Yes, they did. Thanks for asking.
The details of the rescue were fascinating. Incredible. Dangerous. And they involved a cast of dozens of international caving and diving experts, and a fearless unit of Thai Navy SEALS, one of whom lost his life in the endeavor.
The boys began to be rescued on July 8, and the rescues continued for the next 48 hours. Thailand, and most of the world, was glued to the story. Locally, the fascination and the–unusual even for Thailand which specializes in such things–traffic jams were incredible.
Chiang Rai–a city in the North of Thailand–is (relatively) quiet and conservative. However, even after the boys were rescued and taken to the local hospital, gridlock continued. I remember going home one evening after (a rather nice) dinner to find that streets were closed in celebration of the rescue and that there really wasn’t any way to “get there from here.” It was several hours before we made it.
And then there was the completely unexpected visit to the hospital where the boys were housed. GH had a good friend–a young woman–whose father had suffered a serious medical event and been hospitalized in Chiang Rai at that very hospital. She was frantic, and asking for blood donors. GH volunteered. And since the young lady asked if I’d be willing, I said, sure, I’d open a vein, as I’m a regular blood donor stateside where–they tell me–my blood (O- and very ‘clean,’) goes to neonatal units.
So, off we traipsed to the hospital. Pandemonium. Newsies everywhere. Roads and entrances blocked. Difficulties (yet again, but for a different reason) hooking up. But, eventually we got there.
As it turned out, they refused my blood because of my age and because I was past the cut-off limit for “unknowns” who’d never donated. The same was also true of GH, but he was a little more glib (imagine my surprise), and had the young lady vouching for his prowess, so, oh well. I gave it my best shot. She, as Charles Dickens might have said, “was willing.” For that much, at least.
Crimenutely. The straits we get into, in life. I don’t guess I’d change a bit of it, no matter the outcome (which is sometimes brutal). I know what I did. And why I did it.
And so, here I am, reflecting back on the story of the Thai soccer boys, the just-released movie, how it affected my life, and thinking about a few things. Such as:
- I’m really glad the boys all made it out alive
- I have to wonder about the wisdom of their coach
- I’m in awe of the bravery of the Thai Navy SEALS who shouldered the most dangerous burden
- I wonder how the movie portrays Vernon Unsworth–a man known to several men I met in Chiang Rai, and who was defamed by Elon Musk as the “pedo guy.”
- I wonder how the movie portrays Elon Musk.
- I wonder if–at this late date–GH ever reflects on any of this, and if his remembrance differs from mine. Oh, never mind. I already know the answer to that. I don’t fare all that well. (The cognoscenti can look it up for themselves)
- Would I have done anything different, between August 2016 and March 2019, having first been approached by a member here who subsequently asked to stay with Mr. She and myself, and who spent two months living in our house when said member had nowhere else to go, and during which said member presented as a decent, Christian, beloved family friend? Umm. No. I would not. I’ve always believed that acting kindly towards a fellow human being returns huge benefits to the giver, and I don’t see any reason–no matter the perceived embarrassment and humiliation–and yes, it’s cost me more than a pang here over the past couple of years–to think otherwise today.
And so I read the reviews of the movie, of an event which happened during a significant time in my life, a time in which I was trying for a bit of relaxation and enjoyment in the midst of monumental family tragedy, and I find that most reviews (as does this one) deem the movie very good, and which praise, above all else, its realism.
Oh, hahaha. It can’t be all that realistic if it doesn’t contain at least several minutes of footage of an elderly–graying–formerly red-headed Western woman careening around the highways and back streets of Northern Thailand on the rear of a rather rickety and underpowered motorcycle, being towed around by what history has since revealed was–so he now says–her very Ungracious Host (UG), while she looks quite uncomfortable, apparently wishing that the whole thing might stop.
**Story there: Even before arriving in Chiang Rai, I’d had to phone GH from Bangkok, upon my initial arrival into Thailand, because the POLICE at the airport (frightening) wouldn’t let me proceed until I gave them the exact address at which I would be staying in country. Thankfully, GH answered my desperate phone call from the airport. What I didn’t realize until after the fact was that the address he gave me–which I passed on to the police–of the Condotel in Chiang Rai–wasn’t really where he lived. Thank God they never checked.
PS: On July 11, GH/UH and I were at the old Chiang Rai airstrip which, these days, is mostly given over to geezers who want to power-walk and jog in the morning before trundling over to the palm-thatched bar and drinking their breakfasts (Heineken with ice if anyone’s interested), when the helicopter carrying the Thai SEAL rescue team landed:
GH very kindly offered to buy them a drink. They–equally kindly–refused, because “still on duty.” Brave men all.
PPS: Paging Elon Musk: You’ve not improved with time. I signed up for “Starlink” when you told me that it’d be available in my area by the end of 2021. Not likely. Since then, you’ve (apparently) spent time making it available all over Eastern Europe, so that Ukraine could have better Internet connectivity than me (OK–I’ll give you that), and you’ve been screwing around with Twitter.
Most recently, Starlink now says that it might be available in my area by mid-2023.
Apparently, there’s no way for me to get my $100 deposit back.
Such is life.
Published in General
The cave crawling submersible, like the Twitter folderol, was just Elon burning up all the publicity oxygen in his vicinity. It was during that episode that I downgraded Elon from “harmless” to “mostly harmless” as Earth is in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Still, when the first SpaceX landing was about to occur, Musk turned to the cameras and announced that if the landing succeeded it was due to the excellent team doing the work, but if it did not, the blame was his alone. Considering that I’ve been involved in enough flight tests to know that it is true that success has many fathers but failure is an orphan, I’ve got to confess that I was impressed.
I remember being so excited when they got them safely out that I wrote a post about it … They’re All Out!
Thanks for this. How interesting!
Also, I was literally just discussing with my better half what we might watch. Now I know.
I remember that post! It really was one of those rare events when the attention of the world was focused, laser-like, on a human interest situation of incredible adventure and danger, one in which we could all cheer the bravery of rescuers and the extraordinary measures–at such high cost to themselves–that people “just doing their jobs” will take to save others.
If you do watch the movie, please let us know what you think of it.
We enjoyed it. Thought it was very well done.
JY and I enjoyed it. (Thanks for the heads up it was available)
Even though I knew the ending I was gripped til the end. Ron Howard is a masterful story teller. The acting was on point.
Completely agree.
I do too. I think he’s really good at bringing gripping, real-life, stories to the big screen, while keeping things to a human scale and not going overboard on the technology side. I have to confess I’m not a fan of The DaVinci Code and following movies. Couldn’t stand the novels. Didn’t like the films.
Never saw or read any DaVinci code stuff.
Re this movie, I thought it was especially well-cast and captured the really difficult logistical and cultural problems facing the rescue parties.
Agreed. I was trying to think of the correct word … the rescuers were human; not portrayed as super human. I think it takes a lot of discipline to not over dramatize such dramatic events.
One detail that I found so moving was the Doctor giving the same speech over and over to each individual boy. It never sounded rote, and most of the boys didn’t even understand him. You felt as if he was helping himself as much as the boys. I’m welling up all over again just thinking about it.
@She, you asked about the coach. He was portrayed as barely more than a boy himself and much loved by the boys. To keep that many young people calm and alive for that long would take a very special person (IMHO)
Yes, I think that once they were trapped, he supported them to the very best of his ability. I read and understood at the time, though (and it’s not something I’ve really kept up with; it was just a blast from the past yesterday when I fell over it on Amazon) that he might have been either foolhardy or naïve in taking the boys into the caves in the first place, as they’re known to be very dangerous, especially during monsoon season.
It did seem to be a tradition not of his making. But yes, foolhardy for the time of season that he chose. After his foolhardy error, he did take responsibility to do his part to assist them out of there.
You obviously know more than me; in the movie there was a brief moment where there was surprise that the monsoon season had started early (June 23) . I just googled the question: when is monsoon season in Thailand? and got conflicting answers. But yes, I’m sure foolhardy and naive are appropriate criticisms. I hope he has fared well since, and he was portrayed positively in the movie.
Having done more than a few foolhardy and naive things myself, where things could have gone south very quickly, I make it a point to be generous in my judgment. My experience has been that when some tragedy happens (especially anything involving children) it’s human nature to immediately identify a cause; you can then file it under “well, I’ll never do THAT! so my children are safe”.
An 8th grade classmate of my daughter’s was killed tragically when she dropped her skateboard, darted out to grab it and was hit by a car. Almost universally, the reaction of other parents was: what the hell was she doing out that late at night with her skateboard? Well, she was walking home from getting ice cream, with her mother and other family members. It was a tragic accident, something that makes people feel very vulnerable.
I watched it after dinner, at a friend’s. It’s riveting.
I didn’t realize till the end that it was filmed in Queensland, Australia; as the location scouts did a brilliant job of finding authentic-looking locales, and the set construction was incredibly detailed and realistic. (Howard’s first plan was to film on location in Northern Thailand, but as with so many things in the recent past, Covid put paid to that.)
Which makes it even more of an achievement. The Thai cast is considerable, much of the movie is spoken in Thai, and it must have been a logistical nightmare to bring it all together into a coherent whole. A fine script which prunes down the number of rescuers to one the viewer can manage and track. And affecting performances all round.
I don’t know how widely-known it was at the time that the boys were medicated into insensibility so that they could safely be taken out of the cave. I knew it in real time because it was spoken about among a few ex-pats who–I suspect–knew some of the rescuers.
A fine movie which really spoke to me of the spirit, the bravery, and the beauty of a country I hope to visit again one day, and of the men who came from around the world to help them in their hour of great need. Bravo!
First I’ve heard of it. It makes sense, though.
Yes—the movie depicts it well. The experienced divers knew novices (the boys) could never handle an hours-long dive in near darkness without freaking out. It was the major hurdle to overcome when the divers found out how deep in the cave the boys were.
I did know at the time or very soon after, but I don’t remember where I read it. That said, I knew the boys were sedated, not fully unconscious.
An amazing effort and an amazing movie.
A triumph. It was a spectacular movie and realistic depiction of actual events. I did love the focus on Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, the middle-aged cave divers from England. What motivated them to continue to go farther multiple times to reach these boys from Thailand? They were not in it for glory, money or fame. They were devoid of hubris.
I found an article about them [link] (and how Viggo Mortensen studied to accurately play the part of Rick Stanton). Here is Rick Stanton describing himself:
I also loved how they showed glimpses of each man’s own home life away from Thailand. These were incredibly brave men who did what they had trained to do all their lives with no apparent purpose.
They had their purpose in Thailand and the entire world was watching. Stanton wrote a book that came out this year – Aquanaut: The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue: A Life Beneath the Surface
Yes. The boys aren’t the only ones in the story who went on a journey. I thought the movie encompassed that very effectively, from the “I hate children” grumpy old man beginning to the anguished “How’s my boy, is he breathing?” at the end.
They must have been so desperate (the English and the Australians, the SEALs, and the provincial administrators). What a potential for disaster, both very personal and very public, to have drugged young boys, run down and malnourished, after two weeks of no food, low-oxygen, and incredible stress and then to have hauled them out like “packages” with hours of impossible underwater physical exertion and struggle on the part of those carrying them, while personnel with zero medical training topped up their ketamine at intervals to keep the boys completely knocked out.
When you get to the point where you realize “the only way out is through,” you have two choices: 1) walk away. 2) go “through.” Whatever the cost.
Reminds me of Frodo. To go forward appears certain death, but to not go forward is unthinkable.
BTW, the occasional “Hooyahs” in the movie (which made me smile) are entirely authentic too:
Naval Special Warfare Command (Thailand)
Thanks for the pointer. I downloaded it yesterday AM* from Prime and Mrs. Spring and I watched it last night. Ron Howard certainly knows how to take a story that we know the ending of and turn it into an edge-of-the-seat thriller. I don’t know the real story as you do, but it seemed that the foreign divers got much more credit than the Thai Seals.
A very good movie.
*I completely “feel your pain” with respect to Internet. Even though we live in the county that could be considered the Data Center of the country (Loudoun), we are in the part with very poor coverage. We now have satellite service with a 50 GB limit before it gets throttled down. The time between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM is not monitored, so that is when I wake up and do any desired downloads. This was worth it!
I’m glad you found it worthwhile and good. It reminds me a lot of Ron Howard’s Apollo 13, in that I think knowing the story so well beforehand made it very easy to focus on the individuals and the ways they coped and–in all cases, I think–grew throughout their ordeal. (I thought Howard did a pretty good job of differentiating the boys and really involving us in some of their stories as well).
As I understand it, there were over 90 rescuers actively involved in the effort, and–of course–those numbers had to be pruned down considerably and the logistics simplified for the purposes of telling the story which is, as you say, told mostly from the perspective of the foreigners. I think the only criticism I’ve seen of the film anywhere is that it plays like something of a “white savior” movie, but I don’t think either of the teams could have succeeded without the other. I’m just glad they did.
Thanks. I’m glad I’m not alone. Misery loves company.