Howard successfully dramatizes extraordinary rescue story
Last year, for the first time ever, I selected a documentary as my number one film of the year. That doc, The Rescue, plays out like a thrilling Hollywood screenplay as it recounts the inspiring true tale of the rescue of 12 members of a boys’ soccer team and their coach after 18 days trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. Now art imitates life as that story that so captivated the world back in 2018 gets the high-powered Hollywood treatment. Directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard, Thirteen Lives proves itself an equally thrilling and moving dramatization.