Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The 33 Blu-ray Movie Review

Back into the Light

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 16, 2016

Attention spans and news cycles being what they are, many viewers have probably forgotten the Copiapó mining accident of 2010, which left thirty-three miners buried beneath thousands of feet of rock inside the San José Mine in Chile's Atacama Desert. The rescue effort lasted sixty-nine days and riveted world attention, especially after word reached the surface on day 17 that every man trapped in the mine was alive and well (or as well as could be expected, considering they had been living off rations sufficient for only three days).

By the time the official account of the miners' experience appeared in 2014 with the publication of Deep Down Dark by L.A. journalist Héctor Tobar, a filmed version was already in development. Helmed by Mexican director Patricia Riggen (Under the Same Moon) and featuring a curiously international cast, The 33 was released to theaters on November 13, 2015, where it promptly got buried at the box office by the twin juggernauts of Spectre and The Peanuts Movie. A common reaction was that the film played like a standard-issue disaster movie, which is only partly accurate. Besides, this disaster really happened.

The 33 opens with the sobering statistic that 12,000 miners die in accidents each year. It's the first of many reminders that the miners' survival was so unlikely that a rescue attempt was initially considered a waste of time. Then, in familiar shorthand, Riggen and the four writers who adapted Tobar's account set about establishing key characters who will carry the drama. "Super Mario" Sepúlveda (Antonio Banderas) is a family man, who will become the leader of the group (although certain details of his life, like his soccer-playing daughter, have been borrowed from other miners). Luis Urzúa, a/k/a "Don Lucho" (Lou Diamond Phillips), is the foreman who is saddled with the obligatory scene in which warnings about the mine's instability are brushed aside. Other key figures are defined by a single attribute: Álex Vega (Mario Casas), whose wife, Jessica (Cote de Pablo), is pregnant with their first child; the alcoholic Dario Segovia (Juan Pablo Raba); the comical Yonni Barrios (Oscar Nunez), who shuttles between the homes of his wife and his mistress; old-timer Mario Gómez (Gustavo Angarita), who has only two weeks until retirement; and Carlos Mamani (Tenoch Huerta), the new guy subject to constant mockery because he is Bolivian. The characterizations are wafer-thin, but that is a necessary shortcut in a film where individual personalities are quickly submerged in a shared catastrophe.

To Riggen's credit, she stages the mine collapse with little buildup and no warning, which no doubt mirrors the miners' experience. After an overwhelming cascade of rock and dirt from which every member of the crew escapes miraculously unharmed, the miners gather in an enclosed area known as "the refuge", where they must ration food, keep up each others' spirits and wait for a sign that a rescue effort has begun. Meanwhile, on the surface, families led by Segovia's sister, Maria (Juliette Binoche, who replaced Jennifer Lopez), and Super Mario's wife, Katy (Kate del Castillo), storm the facility demanding action, which they eventually get with the help of press coverage and Chile's Minister of Mining, Laurence Golborne (Rodrigo Santoro). Chile's President, Sebastián Piñera (Bob Gunton), watches from Santiago with the caution of a career politician, appearing on the scene just in time to stand before the TV cameras reading the first communication received from the miners, seventeen days after the collapse. (Although the scene plays like a screenwriter's contrivance, it actually happened.)

Not everything in The 33 tracks the disaster-film playbook. After the miners exhaust their scant provisions, Riggen transitions into a daring scene of magical realism, as family members appear from the shadows in bright, festive costumes, bearing sumptuous plates of food. It's a moment of shared comfort that ends with a punchline. On the surface, an impromptu musical performance by the pregnant Jessica Vega supports a montage of the makeshift encampment, as family members fill the long hours of waiting with prayer and candlelight vigils. Not until The 33's third act does Riggen face her greatest challenge, after the initial drama of making contact has passed and the painstaking and often frustrating task of rescue begins. There's only so much suspense to be extracted from the logistics of drilling a shaft 2300 feet deep and wide enough to accommodate the rescue vehicle through which the miners are eventually hauled, one by one, to the surface. The burden falls on the handful of recognizable personalities above and below ground to fill the time with self-reflection, occasionally punctuated by news reports from the likes of Anderson Cooper and technical consultations between key personnel such as engineer André Sougarret (Gabriel Byrne with an unidentifiable accent) and U.S. driller Jeff Hart (James Brolin in what is little more than a cameo).

The most affecting images in The 33 come not from the dark caverns below or the brightly lit desert sands above, but from a separate sequence at the end when the actors are replaced by black-and-white images of the real miners gathered at the seashore. Each one is introduced by name, smiling at the camera (for the most part) and bearing no outward sign of the ordeal depicted in The 33. Still, as the survivors stand arm-in-arm, it is hard not to be moved. Whether attributed to divine intervention or sheer luck, the presence of these men aboveground is a miracle.

The 33 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 33 was shot on Alexa by Peruvian-born cinematographer Checco Varese, who is director Riggen's usual DP (and also her husband). The San José Mine was recreated in an abandoned mine in Colombia, with scenes aboveground shot in Chile near the scene of the original facilities. Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which was presumably sourced from digital files, captures the stark contrast between the miners' dimmed surroundings (which was probably much darker than what appears in the film) and the crystal-clear sights aboveground in a region known for the clarity of its sky and the intensity of its daytime light. The opening sequence featuring miners with their families sports a bright and colorful palette, which gradually returns to the film as the rescue operation becomes an encampment for those who have loved ones trapped below. Black levels are excellent, and detail is plentiful, whether on the grimy, haggard faces of the trapped miners or the massive drilling equipment trying to reach them. The image is free of distortion, interference or artifacts.

Warner has mastered The 33 with an average bitrate of 27.98 Mbps, which is higher than normal for the studio's new releases and is certainly enough bandwidth for the needs of this digitally acquired production.

The 33 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 33 was released to select theaters in Dolby Atmos, but the Blu-ray features a 5.1 track encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. Even without the Atmos "height" channels, the film's sound designers have created an effective and memorable sonic experience to convey the miners' plight. Geological creaks and groans are heard from everywhere, even above (in a properly configured surround array), both before and after the collapse. The sounds of drills tunneling through solid rock are rendered in numerous variations. The mine collapse itself is a thunderous affair that, for those with a good subwoofer, will rattle the room.

Despite the variety of accents, the dialogue remains clear throughout. The film's music was one of the final works of the late James Horner, to whom The 33 is dedicated and who, as an Oscar winner for Titanic, knew a thing or two about scoring disaster films.

The 33 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The biggest disappointment with the Blu-ray of The 33 is the small complement of extras.

• The Mine Collapse (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:54): This brief promotional featurette focuses on the effects work that re-created the collapse of the San José Mine.



• The 33: The World Was Watching (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:05): A second promotional featurette looks at the role of the families and the media, without whom it is open to question whether such a massive and protracted rescue effort could have been sustained.



• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2.35:1; 2:34).



• Additional Trailers: At startup the disc plays trailers for In the Heart of the Sea, Creed, the remake of Point Break and Our Brand Is Crisis, along with the familiar Warner ad for digital copies.

The 33 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The classic disaster films of the Seventies were nightmares that attempted to exorcise fears of catastrophe by confining them within a camera's frame. Because The 33, like 2012's The Impossible, re-creates actual events, it is pitched at a different emotional level. Even when the film seems melodramatic, it's hard to forget that the reality was probably worse, if for no other reason than that the outcome was not yet known. Recommended.