“I have a really hard time of letting go of movies that don’t fit in the schedule. More often than not, I’ll squish things in that I may not care about too much, rather than missing something I may one day possibly kinda sorta regret. Sometimes, I’ll relegate something to a lower priority, only to have second thoughts. Kinda the case here. With an NYC trip on Sat and being protective of my do-nothing Sunday, my only option was a movie on Thur. Or so I thought. When I checked in with the BFFF to see when we could meet up while I was in his town, we opted for before the shows instead of between, which then left me with movie time. Sweet!
Yeah so I had The 33 on my radar, but had mostly decided I could skip it. Seemed kinda formulaic, not to mention the fact that anyone who’s familiar with the subject matter knows how it ends. Respectable but not remarkable cast. I could give it up. Wait for Netflix or Black Friday bargain DVD’s. But I was still really interested. Sure, I know what ultimately happens, but how do we get there? What are the individual stories of the Chilean miners portrayed? Have I really given up on Antonio Banderas?
Thankfully, it fit in perfectly. Funny story (not really funny), I somehow thought I had an hour less between shows. I was lamented the loss of stage door stalking after Fun Home (which was amazing, I cried so hard, which never happens), and before the show I put in an online order for a burger from the Five Guys next to the theater. The show got out, and it was a whole hour earlier than I thought, which is when I realized my math fail. So I had time to get my Playbill signed by the full cast, and slowly wandered back down to the theater, stopping for some dessert to sneak in with my dinner.
And yes, as expected, the movie was formulaic but interesting. It recalled the story of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped for an ungodly amount of time after the mine collapsed. We saw how they survived down there, how their family supported them from the outside, how their employers did little, and how the world came together behind them.
I particularly appreciated how this was a big who’s who of Hispanic actors, some new to me and others familiar: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Lou Diamond Phillips (great to see him in something bigger than a quirky recurring role on a tv show), Adriana Barraza. My Hispanic heritage may not be Chilean, but it still stirred up some pride and solidarity for me.
Maybe not something I needed to go out of my way for, but it was a rather nice way to pass the time between shows. The story truly is inspiring and worth taking a closer look at. I did have to duck out during the epilogue so I could make it to my next show. I had to go see Annaleigh Ashford play Matthew Broderick’s (!) dog in Sylvia. So overall the trip was a win.
The 33 – \m/ \m/ \m/”