The Rescue review – divers save Thai cave kids as documentary goes deep underwater

This gripping film from the makers of Free Solo and Meru digs deep to find out how the 2018 rescue of a junior football team was achieved

Co-directors and extreme sports enthusiasts Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi have covered cliffhanging exploits with their documentaries Free Solo (about a solo ascent of Yosemite rock face El Capitan) and Meru (about a climb in the Himalayas). Their latest puts them up against a new challenge: making something at least somewhat cinematic about cave diving in the preternaturally dark, subterranean world it involves.

Fortunately for them, their story revolves around the gripping drama that was the 2018 rescue effort to save 13 members of a Thai junior football team - 12 kids and their adult coach - who were trapped in a cave by an unexpected downpour. Not only is the story compelling, but thanks to how much the event captured the interest of the world's media, there is a lot of archive footage to splice in among the generous wodges of talking-heads narration from the main participants.