'The 33' unearths several thousand tons of clich茅s
In 2010, when 33 Chilean miners were rescued 69 days after聽being buried deep inside a gold and copper mine, my first thought was聽profound relief and exultation. My second thought was, I hope no one聽makes a hokey movie about this.
My fears have been confirmed with Patricia Riggen鈥檚 鈥淭he 33,鈥� which聽unearths not only those thirty-three miners but also several thousand tons聽of clich茅s. Antonio Banderas plays the trapped group鈥檚 de facto leader,聽Mario Sep煤lveda, aka 鈥淪uper Mario,鈥� who keeps his head while all about聽him are losing theirs. Lou Diamond Phillips is miner Luis Urzua, who聽just knew this 100-year-old mine was ready to collapse but couldn鈥檛聽persuade the big bad bosses to ease up. Juliette Binoche, playing the sister聽of one of the miners, shows up looking and sounding like a refugee from聽鈥淐armen.鈥� And so it goes.
Yes, the rescue saga is inspirational, and it鈥檚 nice to see the faces of the聽real-life miners as the film ends. But you鈥檇 never know from this movie聽that any of them struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder; we learn almost nothing about their聽subsequent fates. I trust this movie provided the men a greater聽compensation for their ordeal than the pittance the mining company聽forked over. Grade: C- (Rated PG-13 for a disaster sequence and some language.)
