New film unearths rare footage to tell the story of a boys' soccer team rescued from a Thai cave
directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin tell the remarkable true story of a boys' soccer team rescued from a Thai cave in their new film, The Rescue.
The husband-and-wife team had watched transfixed with the rest of the world as amateur divers, Navy SEALS and hundreds of volunteers pulled off a seemingly impossible rescue through miles of dark, perilous, flooded caves. "Here are these weekend warriors - one's a retired fireman, one's a meteorologist, an IT consultant, an electrician," said Vasarhelyi.
"This is the first film that we've made that we weren't present for the principal action," Vasarhelyi. Another accidentally stabbed himself with a ketamine syringe while underwater with a child who was recovering consciousness. Thankfully, it was empty at the time. "I think that even going to Thai prison would probably pale to what it would have been like to live with yourself, knowing that you participated in the death of 13 people," she added.