Underground review – mine explosion disaster film digs deeper than most

French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis puts human drama ahead of the action in this naturalistic, character-driven film

Here is an arthouse disaster movie from Quebec: a naturalistic, character-driven drama about what it might truly look like if a mineral mine exploded, trapping five workers underground. It's the second feature from French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis, who herself grew up in a mining family.

She opens her film in the heat of the rescue: red lights flashing, a response team descending into darkness. One of the rescuers, Max (Joakim Robillard), would be the hero of the Hollywood version, running around hot-headedly, disobeying orders: Fuck you! I'm going to get the others!" Actually, much of the film is about how damaging it is for Max living with this tough-guy masculinity.