The Terrifyingly True Story Behind Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives (2024)

Now streaming on Prime Video, Thirteen Lives follows the incredible true story of the 2018 mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from Thailand’s flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave system. Although the high-stakes events were widely covered by global media, director Ron Howard thrusts audiences into the chaotic center with the same intensity and attention to detail he brought to his other classic "true story" films, such as Apollo 13 and Rush.

With such a big-name filmmaker and a recognizable cast that includes Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen, it would be easy to assume Thirteen Lives is a glitzy, exaggerated dramatization. Thankfully, however, the survival film is impressively authentic and respectful, with the only exceptions being relatively small details and omissions.

Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on May 31, 2024: Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives is epic and terrifying, but many viewers may not know the true story behind the film. This article has been updated with extra information and to adhere to CBR's current formatting guidelines.

Thirteen Lives Captures the Broad Strokes of the Real-Life Mission

The bulk of Thirteen Lives faithfully follows British cave divers John Volanthen (Colin Farrell, The Batman) and Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen, Lord of the Rings), who are called in by the Thai government to lead an operation into Tham Luang to locate the boys and their coach. After 10 days and two grueling trips through narrow, pitch-black caves, the divers discover that all 13 are miraculously alive after a week trapped in a small cavern and bring back a video of their find. A new question immediately emerges: How can the divers get the boys back out through the panic-inducing caves, which can cause injury with the slightest false maneuver? The answer they settle on is Dr. Richard “Harry” Harris (Joel Edgerton, Obi-Wan Kenobi), an Australian anesthetist tasked with sedating the boys so they can be transported back out.

Thirteen Lives accurately portrays the finer details of the mission, allowing audiences to listen in as the divers describe the real-life geography of the cave system. Howard even places timers on screen every so often so viewers can understand the hours and hours it really took to make a single round trip through the caves. Screenwriter William Nicholson also takes care to include interesting tidbits, such as the coach, Ekkapol Chatawong (Teeradon Supapunpinyo), helping his students to remain calm through meditation and the divers smelling the presence of human life directly before finding the boys alive. The movie stops to linger on the physical trials faced by the Thai SEALS, who are often overshadowed in accounts of the mission. Removing these smaller moments certainly would have cut back on the formidable 147-minute run time, but the filmmakers' commitment to accuracy came first and ultimately paid off.

In addition to staying true to the nitty-gritty details of the rescue, Thirteen Lives also subverts the Hollywood trope of the supremely confident "action hero." While Volanthen, Stanton, and Harris were skilled in their respective fields, none knew whether their plans would succeed. There was simply no precedent for what they were attempting. As such, the movie depicts them doubting themselves and their mission, voicing the belief that some, or all, of the boys would not survive. It also includes a scene of one of the divers, Chris Jewell (Tom Bateman), becoming physically and mentally disoriented inside the caves, highlighting that even the most capable people are susceptible to weakness under extreme circ*mstances. Howard's inclusion of those moments of vulnerability pointedly goes against the traditional hero archetype to show how amazing feats often are pulled off by people forced to improvise in times of uncertainty and crisis.

Thirteen Lives' Changes Emphasize the Real Stakes

A few changes were made to streamline the narrative and strengthen certain moments' emotional impact. The most conspicuous is the omission of two members of the central diving team, Craig Challen and Jim Warny. The latter joined on the last day of the rescue, so his addition late in the movie would have, no doubt, felt jarring. In fact, the number of divers, in general, is cut back to help focus the narrative, with each boy being carried by two divers rather than one, as Thirteen Lives depicts.

The boys were also handed off part way through transport to additional rescuers, but the film depicts the central divers bringing them all the way out of the cave. That is arguably the film's biggest sin regarding authenticity, but the motivation behind the change was clearly to help heighten the emotional connection between the divers and the boys.

A less glaring difference is that the film moves the tragic death of 37-year-old Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan one day closer to the rescue proper, seemingly to emphasize the life-and-death stakes. Such a change is arguably not disrespectful because the mission was as dangerous as depicted; the shift in timing simply allows the audience to appreciate the weight. The film is also dedicated to Kunan and another SEAL, Beirut Pakbara, who died of an infection sustained during the mission but does not appear in the movie.

Thirteen Lives Also Stays True to Events Outside the Caves

Thirteen Lives stays true to the central cave rescue and the wider context. The mission was only possible because of the support of thousands of people, not only a handful of Western men. Hundreds of experts, officials, and volunteers, including engineers, doctors, journalists, and religious leaders, gathered in a makeshift town to offer whatever they could to the operation. The film repeatedly goes out of its way to highlight these vital contributions, with one key example being the drainage operation spearheaded by Thanet Natisri, a Thai engineer based out of the United States.

His conclusion was that the only way to expel the water would be to flood the local fields, destroying farmers’ livelihoods. Instead of alluding to this, Howard devotes entire scenes to Natisri and depicts the farmers selflessly agreeing to the plan. While the dramatic shots of water spilling out onto their rice paddies seem like something invented for the film, the details are correct. The only possible exception is that the film does not fully convey the size of this specific drainage operation, which involved hundreds of Thai volunteers and soldiers.

Similarly, Thirteen Lives devotes some time to one of the children's mothers, revealing she and her son are "stateless" (in other words, undocumented) and, thus, lacking in official government identification. While the mother fears this will lead the rescuers to disregard her son, Cha, that does not come into play. The film does not mention that two other soccer players and their coach were also stateless, as only one instance is necessary for audiences to understand this subplot. Arguably, even this single mention was unnecessary, given that their statelessness has no bearing on the mission. But perhaps Howard felt it was important to show a positive real-world scenario in which everyone is treated equally, regardless of politics. Thankfully, all three boys and Chantawong were granted citizenship following these events.

The decision to paint a wider painting of the rescue, rather than focusing only on the more action-oriented dive, is also more than mere accuracy for accuracy's sake. Historical movies tend to focus on one "hero," but Howard ensures that Thirteen Lives' central message is the opposite: amazing things can happen when many people come together under a unified goal, even if nobody knows the best course of action. In the face of the deadly and disruptive pandemic that occurred only a couple of years after the rescue, it’s clearly a message that resonates far beyond Tham Luang. Given the seemingly insurmountable issues facing global society, from pandemics to political division to climate change, it’s no surprise that an event as inspiring and life-affirming as this rescue has found its way to the mainstream.

Other Movies To Watch If You Loved Thirteen Lives

Thirteen Lives tells a terrifying true story with a happy ending, a common genre in Hollywood. If audiences enjoyed the daring rescue story, there are several other great films to check out after Thirteen Lives.

Sully

Sully is a 2016 film based on the true story of commercial pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who landed a plane in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, after a swarm of geese was caught in the engine. Sully, played by Tom Hanks, manages to save the lives of his passengers and crew, leading to a daring rescue in which everyone manages to make it out alive, leading the incident to become known as "The Miracle on the Hudson." The film follows Sully's career thereafter, including the investigation that followed and his battles with those who want to destroy his reputation.

Apollo 13

Apollo 13 tells the true story of the titular space mission that sought to send three astronauts to the moon but instead almost ended in disaster. Also directed by Ron Howard, the film follows the shuttle crew after technical difficulties leave their ship incapable of completing its mission. When all hope seems lost, a daring team-up between the bright minds of ground control and the astronauts in space manages to end the harrowing experience without any casualties.

127 Hours

127 Hours is the terrifying true story of a mountain climber, played by James Franco, whose arm is caught beneath a fallen boulder during a trek through a Utah canyon. Desperate, the climber does his best to stay alive until help can arrive but is eventually forced to amputate his own arm to survive. Despite the cost, Franco's character manages to make it through the difficult 127 hours alone in the wilderness and lives to tell the tale.

Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives is now streaming on Prime Video.

Thirteen Lives

PG-13

Action

Biography

Adventure

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Not available

Director

Ron Howard

Release Date

July 29, 2022

Cast

Sukollawat Kanarot , Tom Bateman , Joel Edgerton , Viggo Mortensen , Colin Farrell

Writers

Don MacPherson , William Nicholson

Runtime

147 minutes

Main Genre

Action

Website

https://www.unitedartistsreleasing.com/thirteen-lives/

Cinematographer

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

Producer

Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Gabrielle Tana, Karen Lunder, P.J. van Sandwijk, William M. Connor

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Magnolia, Storyteller Productions, Imagine Entertainment, Mae, BRON Creative

Sfx Supervisor

Brian Cox, Bruce Bright