Oscar-Winning Directors On Making Nat Geo’s ‘The Rescue’ And Advice For Those Seeking To Follow Their Path

From the expansive views and dizzying heights of Yosemite’s El Capitan in Free Solo, National Geographic’s The Rescue brought directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin to the dark, labyrinthian Tham Luang cave of northern Thailand. Working largely with archival footage, a complex “life rights” landscape and restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, The Rescue marked a very different challenge for the filmmaking pair, who won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2019.

Unlike their previous projects like Free Solo and Meru, where the husband-and-wife team was heavily involved in early, comprehensive planning, The Rescue required the directors to work in an after-the-fact manner. The complex July 2018 rescue of twelve Thai boys and their soccer coach from deep inside the flooded Tham Luang cave was already completed, and all the firsthand footage was shot by others. “It was the first one we made that we weren’t there for the principal action. But even had we been there, like everyone else, we would have not been able to go into the cave,” Vasarhelyi explained. Depicting the sheer scale and harrowing intensity of the rescue, the film weaves together interviews from cave divers like Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, re-enactments filmed in a tank in the UK and on-the-ground footage shot by Thai Navy SEALs.

“We were making a film that was much more of a forensic exercise — a lot more research, investigative journalism and corroborating stories,” Chin said. “It has to be accurate and true to the story, not only in spirit, but also in fact. We spent a lot more time sorting out all the little details because the story was very fragmented, with a lot of different perceptions of what happened. Someone inside the cave would have no idea what was happening outside the cave and vice versa.” Similarly, Vasarhelyi shared that making The Rescue reminded her of her first film A Normal Life (2003), about a group of friends living through the war in Kosovo. “I remember going through all the old news footage and piecing it together that way.”

Entering the industry’s awards season, The Rescue has picked up the the People’s Choice Documentary Award from the Toronto International Film Festival 2021 and a string of major nominations from the Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, American Cinema Editors, and BAFTA.

‘The Rescue’ presented a ‘unique’ challenge

Vasarhelyi and Chin faced one major obstacle from the get-go: Netflix 
NFLX
 owned the “life rights” of the Thai children from the Wild Boar soccer team and their families, while National Geographic held the rights to some of the divers. (Netflix is launching their scripted film Thirteen Lives in November 2022.) Vasarhelyi and Chin, attached to the National Geographic project, were only allowed to approach the divers and rescuers for on-camera interviews. “It was a very big challenge, and it was unique. I think you see that normally more in fiction films, but not so much documentaries,” Vasarhelyi shared. They still managed to meet the children off-camera to better understand their perspectives, and also went to the Tham Luang cave to see the place firsthand. Reflecting on the nature of documentary filmmaking, Vasarhelyi added, “The beauty of non-fiction is that when you have a problem, you can’t write it out, you have to find a way through.”

Speaking with the rescue divers, Chin and Vasarhelyi learned about the existence of footage shot by the Thai Navy SEALs and other rescue divers. In particular, British cave diver John Volanthen recalled filming a scene of the Thai children doing a motivational cheer in the cave, with a camera that the Thai Navy SEALs had handed out to him earlier. However, the Thai Navy SEALs were reluctant to share the footage. After two years of persistence and unsuccessful negotiations, Vasarhelyi decided to personally fly to Thailand and try to gain access.

After a two-week quarantine to meet Thailand’s Covid-19 regulations, Vasarhelyi went to the Thai Navy SEAL admiral’s house to make her case and finally managed to gain his permission to use the SEALs’ footage. This was significant due to the covert nature of their operations. However, Vasarhelyi and Chin had to be patient while waiting for the footage to arrive. “They didn’t actually hand it to her. They flew a delegation of Thai Navy SEALs to our editing studio in New York with the hard drives in a briefcase,” Chin said. “It ended up being 90 hours of footage.”

With their film already in “picture lock,” this meant that they had to go back to the drawing board and rebuild the film. They worked with editor and frequent collaborator, Bob Eisenhardt, who was also their editor for Free Solo (2018) and Meru (2015). “It was like a documentary miracle,” said Vasarhelyi, despite the challenges and time constraints that the arrival of the footage posed. “These things were the real moments, like the children inside the cave eating their first meals with Dr. Bhak [Loharjun, Chief Medical Officer of the Thai Royal Army]. That was particularly valuable for us because we didn’t have access to the children. Or the moment when John and Rick emerged from chamber three, met the Thai Navy SEALs and let them know that they found the children.”

Bridging worlds, onscreen and offscreen

Reflecting on their cultural background and how it helped them to make The Rescue, Chin said, “Particularly in the case of The Rescue, I think it was very helpful because both Chai [Vasarhelyi] and I have grown up living with one foot in two different worlds.” Vasarhelyi’s mother is Shanghainese and her father is a Hungarian who lived in Brazil. Chin’s parents are both from mainland China and they were the “only Chinese family” in Mankato, Minnesota, where Chin grew up. “I think having that kind of sensibility, where you live in two worlds, two perspectives, and two belief systems, and [having] to bridge that on a daily basis, that really helped us to be able to look at multiple perspectives in the story,” Chin shared. “And also be sensitive to not falling into the typical traps of looking at a different belief system and thinking of it as a different belief system that might not be as real as the one we grew up in.”

The film was recognised in Gold House’s Gold List 2022, which highlights outstanding work by Asian filmmakers and talent. “We wanted to make this film in many ways as Asian filmmakers, because we knew that we could listen for the truth of the story,” Vasarhelyi added. “I grew up like an outsider in many ways, being able to look in. I was in a position that I could listen really closely to stories that would not necessarily be focused on or highlighted, and I can try to translate and honor them for a wider audience.”

On how she approaches the ups and downs of awards season, Vasarhelyi said, “You make these documentary films and you’re in a small, dark office, working really closely with a few people and hoping that you’re not crazy. The only reason why you’re doing it is because the story moves you and you can never anticipate how a film is going to land with audiences.” Reflecting on the joy of winning an Academy Award for Free Solo in 2019 and seeing her team members receive recognition, she said, “So much of this type of filmmaking and how people see your films is about access. And if [there is] anything we can do, is to help promote that access.”

“I think especially women tend to think that the work will speak for itself and all I want to say is — the work never speaks for itself, okay? There’s nothing wrong with self-advocating for your project and for your participants,” shared Vasarhelyi, on her advice for people who look up to her work. “We are in a moment where people are listening a little bit more closely, but still there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of representation and inclusion. Access is a real problem in our business, and you have to kind of fight for your space.”

“One of the hard decisions to make in life is whether you pursue something you’re really passionate about or not. Because often when you’re pursuing something that you’re passionate about and has deep meaning, you can feel very vulnerable and it is fraught with risk,” Chin shared. “People make their own decisions, and I felt like I took a lot of risks in following the career that I have. But it’s really paid off for me and I believe that I made the right decisions.”