An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I didn’t remember at all this tragic incident that took place in the San José Mine in Chile but I think it actually helped me to more appreciate this movie since I didn’t know at all what was going to happen. Eventually, it was quite an incredible story. Spending 2 weeks with barely any food and water was already so horrendous but then they also spent an extra 2 months in the mine before being rescued which I didn’t expect at all, even if it actually made sense though. It was apparently all over the news, not only in Chile but also in the rest of the world but I honestly didn’t remember it at all. Apparently, it was adapted from a book which was made with the involvement of all the survivors and their family so it seemed reasonable that the story was fairly faithfully told here.  Concerning the directing, it was nothing fancy but it was effective enough and the beginning scenes with the collapse of the mine were quite spectacular. There was one detail that bothered me though. Even though most of the actors involved were Spanish speakers, for some reason, they all spoke in English instead, probably to easily reach an international audience but it actually had the opposite effect on me though. Concerning the cast, it was neat to see Naomi Scott in her first feature film role, even though she played more football (soccer) than she actually had dialogues. In fact, the only one who felt really miscast here was Juliette Binoche. I wonder what could have possibly attracted such a strong actress to play such a thankless role which was obviously not a good fit for her at all (she actually replaced Jennifer Lopez). In general, they didn’t focus much on the men stuck in this mine and their relatives, it was all fairly shallow. Instead, they focused on the actual events which was not a bad approach, especially since this true story was quite impressive. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was still a decent watch though.