The 33 Opens in Over 2,000 Theaters Friday, Nov. 13
By Bel Hernandez
The movie, The 33 opens with beautiful sweeping landscapes of the brick red Chilean desert. I am taken aback with the beauty. Cut to a family party where we meet the miners and their families all laughing singing and having a great time. Cut to the miners entering the cavernous mine, riding in their truck for hours over 2000 feet deep into the mountain. Just as I have my claustrophobic anxiety in check, it happens. With a deafening, thunderous roar, rocks come raining down on the miners. Then blackout. When it’s all over, we learn all the miners survive. Oh come on! That only happens in the movies! Not in this case. The 33 is based on the real, true life story of the Copiapó Chilean miners, who all did miraculously survive.
You must have seen the news reports back in 2010 when is played out for all the world to see. Thirty-three men were trapped in a collapsed mine for over 69 days and survived. And it took the families who demanded there be a rescue mission to bring back their loved ones. The government complied and in the end the results could not have been more epic as the world watch as one by one each miner was brought in a metal cylinder. Amazing story. Who wouldn’t want to make this compelling movie with not just one but many heroes? Hollywood. “Nobody wanted to make this movie because it’s a drama about 33 Latin men, and that doesn’t get made,” director Patricia Riggen told NPR on a radio interview. But it did get made, independently, and the man behind it is legendary producer Mike Medavoy (Black Swan, Zodiac).
Bringing on board a team of writers which included Jose Rivera (Motorcycle Diaries), and making a bold choice in selecting Patricia Riggen to helm the project, Medavoy also had a more personal connection to Chile, he lived there for several years as a young boy. He is fluent in Spanish and knows the culture well.
?”I saw in her film not only her talent but the real humanity and humor that this film needs,” Medavoy told the press when he first announced the director. “?Patricia has the heart and sensibility to bring this story to life in a way that accurately reflects what the miners and their families endured,” Medavoy commented.? Medavoy definitely made the right choice. Riggen is a Mexican-born director, best known for the Sundance Film Festival darling Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), which premiered at to a standing ovations then went on to release to record-breaking numbers at the boxoffice.
The 33 is a story of resilience, personal transformation and triumph of the human spirit, the film takes us to the Earth’s darkest depths, revealing the psyches of the men trapped in the mine, and depicting the courage of both the miners and their families who refused to give up.
The 33 was filmed on location in Chile’s harshly remote yet stunningly beautiful Atacama desert just kilometers away from where the event took place, and deep within two mines located in central Colombia.
For Riggen The 33 will be the film that finally shows the directing talent that she is, and is sure to put her on the map, and give her the distinction of being the only Latina film director playing in the big leagues. In the midst of having to fight misconception and skepticism that as a woman she would not be able to handle the task, she proved her mettle.
Rodrigo Santoro (R) as with real life counterpart
The direction of The 33 shows Riggen’s ability to tell a testosterone filled movie with a touch of sensitivity, beautifully eliciting powerful performances from her cast. Antonio Banderas as Mario “Super Mario” Sepúlveda, the public face for the group of miners, is back to form, doing the kind of work that he was known for before Hollywood steered him away to the big blockbusters. Rodrigo Santoro’s nuanced performance as Laurence Golborne the Minister of Minery of Chile is a joy to watch and the dynamic between him and Juliette Binoche as María Segovia Darío’s sister which starts of rocky, in the end evokes an aura of…love and respect. Jacob Vargas as Edison “Elvis” Peña, the miners’ song leader, who requested that Elvis Presley songs be sent down the mine added a bit of comic relief to a tense situation.
The Oscar buzz on this film has begun. Production designer Marco Niero is rumored to be on a short list. I would say Banderas needs to be on that list as well and Riggen work should also be looked at. She has had a lot to prove as she told The Vulture in today’s profile of two female directors it was tough, “At the beginning, the skepticism of everyone was very obvious. Later on it turned from skepticism to surprise that the movie was made by a woman. And then eventually it turned to an acceptance, or even an acknowledgement that probably because it’s a woman’s sensibility, I was able to make a movie that really shows the heart and the emotional side of a catastrophe.”
Patricia Riggen is done proving herself, The 33 is all the proof anyone needs.
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Kate Del Castillo, Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”), James Brolin, Jacob Vargas, Adriana Barraza, Cote de Pablo, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
A presentation of Alcon Entertainment and Phoenix Pictures, “The 33” is slated to open on November 13, 2015 and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Produced by Robert Katz Edward McGurn and Mike Medavoy.
Cinematographer: Checco Vareae
Story by: Jose Rivera based on the book written by Hector Tobar.
Screenplay: Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Michael Thomas.
Music: James Horner†
Production Designer: Marco Niro
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