In July 2018, the world watched with bated breath as 12 Thai youth football players were rescued along with their coach from a flooded cave where they had been trapped for the past 18 days. The incident received non-stop coverage, renderedby the Western media’s gaze. Four years later, Netflix’s documentary The Trapped 13, helmed by Thai filmmakers, gives the narrative agency back to the community that underwent this trauma.
The Thailand cave rescue has been documented extensively by various news outlets that have also combined news footage to release multiple documentaries on the subject. Therefore, one can’t help but question the need for making these boys face the camera again and dredging up the past. However, Netflix’s latest documentary firmly establishes its vital existence from the opening scene, when the interviewer assures the young boys, that “There is absolutely no pressure for today’s interview”. She follows it up by telling them that they don’t need to answer any questions they don’t want to, and concludes with, “The most important thing for us is your wellbeing”.
This tone is carried through to the end as Thai-American director Pailin Wedel ensures a compassionate and sensitive portrayal of the events that took place. To that extent, Wedel doesn’t risk a unique narrative style. The film embarks on a straightforward and chronological sequence of events, answering all the relevant questions directly. A simple foundation, therefore, allows the crew to shift focus from a creative account to a contextual one.
Before jumping into the disaster itself, Wedel invests her time in bringing alive the Chiang Rai province, where the boys are from. The interviews start off by exploring the importance that football holds for the students in the community. We learn of the close relationship that they share with Coach Eak, with whom they spend time on days when their parents came home late from work.
The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave
After a tiring practice session, the boys gather around to have grilled pork and rice with the coach, before setting out for the caves. Through reenacted footage, we see them cycle past lush green orchards, dotted with ripe oranges. They reach the site of the cave, and immediately seek out the shrine of Nang Non, the local spirit after whom the mountains are named, for her blessings.
All this effort on the film’s part pays off later when it reaches the point of the group getting stuck in the cave. The panic of finding yourself in an enclosed space, the quiet sadness of not being able to see your family, and the desperation to get out but finding that there’s little you can do about it — these feelings are not thrust upon the audience but unfolded with layered precision. It doesn’t alienate the viewer from the situation, instead making them an intimate part of community that is hurting, something that the Western media could never achieve.
However, in immersing the viewer in the community, the film doesn’t skimp on the other actors involved in the rescue operation. It gives adequate and relevant space to the British and Australian cave divers who explain the intricacies of the rescue mission.
Another way that Wedel’s work stands apart from previous films on the subject matter is that it doesn’t exert excessive focus on ‘what’ the trapped boys endured and chooses to highlight ‘how’ they endured it. Frequently, we are acquainted with the different choices that the group had to make, sometimes in haste and other times to prolong survival. It is shown early on that they leave their backpacks with supplies at the entrance of the cave, taking only their flashlights with them. After spending some time inside and reaching a T-junction, they conduct a show of hands to decide if they should venture further into the cave.
All these decisions are not made into potential fodder for viewers to tear apart and tear into from their couches. As Coach Eak repeatedly questions his decision to take the young boys into the cave, or when the cave divers express doubt over the children’s survival during the rescue mission, the documentary is careful to provide a safe space for such vulnerabilities. It avoids an easy slippage into a pure trauma flick and instead centers on the resilience of the boys, their coach, and the Chiang Rai community.
Visually too, the film offers a distinct portrayal, with present-day footage from the location, interspersed with footage shot during the actual rescue. Reenactment of the event by actors and animated segments add to a masterfully crafted viewing experience.
In The Trapped 13, the director steps back as the 12 Thai boys, their families, their coach, and their village take a look back at the troubling 18-day period. In the truest sense of the word, Welde’s documentary serves as an invaluable historical resource to learn about the Thailand Tham Luang cave rescue.
TheTrapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave is currently streaming on Netflix
Published - October 06, 2022 04:33 pm IST
