''The 33'' ( es, Los 33) is a 2015
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
disaster
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...
-
survival
Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
Patricia Riggen
Patricia Riggen (born June 2, 1970) is a Mexican film director. She is best known for directing the 2007 film ''Under the Same Moon'' and the 2011 Disney Channel original film ''Lemonade Mouth''.
Early life and career beginnings
Riggen was born ...
and written by Mikko Alanne,
Craig Borten
Craig Borten (born September 16, 1965) is an American screenwriter. Borten is best known for his Oscar-nominated script for the 2013 film ''Dallas Buyers Club''. In addition to his nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Borten ...
, Michael Thomas, and José Rivera. The film is based on the real events of the
2010 Copiapó mining disaster, in which a group of thirty-three miners were trapped inside the
San José Mine
The San José Mine ( es, Mina San José) is a small copper-gold mining, mine located near Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile. The mine became known internationally for its 2010 Copiapó mining accident, collapse in 2010, which trapped 33 miners under ...
in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
for 69 days. The film stars
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...
as trapped miner Mario Sepúlveda.
It was released in Chile on August 6, 2015 by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
and in the United States on November 13, 2015 by
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and
Alcon Entertainment
Alcon Entertainment, LLC is an American film production company, founded in 1997 by film producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Since its establishment, Alcon Entertainment has developed and financed films that are ultimately distribut ...
.
Plot
Dozens of people from
Copiapó
Copiapó () is a city and commune in northern Chile, located about 65 kilometers east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region.
Copiapó lies about 800 km nort ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, work in the
San José mine
The San José Mine ( es, Mina San José) is a small copper-gold mining, mine located near Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile. The mine became known internationally for its 2010 Copiapó mining accident, collapse in 2010, which trapped 33 miners under ...
. The owner ignores the warnings of the failing stability of the mine, which collapses a short time later. The only path inside the mine is completely blocked, and the thirty-three miners manage to get to the
rescue chamber. They discover that the radio is useless, the medical kit is empty, the
ventilation shafts lack the required ladders, and there is very little stored food. Mario Sepúlveda becomes the leader of the miners, dividing the food rations and stopping the outbursts of violence and despair. The mine company does not attempt any rescue, and the relatives of the miners gather around the gates.
The government of Chile decides on active intervention, and orders the use of drills to reach the chamber. The first exploratory
borehole
A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petrol ...
s move off-target, but a later one reaches the required destination. The miners attach a note to the drill bit to announce their survival. They receive new food and clothing, and television communication with the surface. A second, bigger, drill system is prepared to retrieve the miners one by one.
There is drama and tension during the weeks before the successful rescue of all 33 miners, over two months after they became trapped. The story is derived from the August 2010 mine collapse and subsequent rescues in Copiapó, Chile.
Cast
*
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...
as Mario Sepúlveda, public face for the group of miners, who made daily video logs to assure the public that they were all right.
*
Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Junqueira Reis Santoro (; born 22 August 1975) is a Brazilian actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Persian King Xerxes in the movie ''300'' (2006) and its sequel '' 300: Rise of an Empire'' (2014). Other famous movies include ' ...
as
Laurence Golborne
Laurence Nelson Golborne Riveros (born Lorence Nelson Golborne Riveros Santiago, July 11, 1961) is a Chilean engineer and entrepreneur. He was minister of public works until November 7, 2012, when he announced his decision to run for President o ...
, the
Minister of Mining of
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
.
*
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer.
She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...
as María Segovia,
Darío's sister.
*
James Brolin
James Brolin (, born Craig Kenneth Bruderlin; July 18, 1940) is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 27, 1998. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin.
He ...
as Jeff Hart,
a driller who supervises the drilling operation to save the miners.
*
Lou Diamond Phillips
Louis Diamond Phillips ( born Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is a Filipino-American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film '' La Bamba'' (1987). For ''Stand and Deliver'' (19 ...
as Luis "Don Lucho" Urzúa, the shift foreman, who took a leading role while the miners were trapped and helped make more accurate maps of the cave for the rescue crews.
*
Mario Casas
Mario Casas Sierra (born 12 June 1986) is a Spanish actor. He rose to fame in Spain with the television series ''Los hombres de Paco'' (2007-2010), and later in the film ''Three Steps Above Heaven'' (2010).
Early life and education
Casas was ...
as Álex Vega,
a miner who suffered from kidney problems and
hypertension
Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
.
*
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's s ...
as
André Sougarret,
the mining engineer who masterminded the escape operation.
*
Bob Gunton
Robert Patrick Gunton Jr. (born November 15, 1945) is an American character actor of stage and screen. He is known for playing strict authoritarian characters, including Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison drama '' The Shawshank Redemption'' ...
as
Sebastián Piñera
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022.
The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...
,
President of Chile
The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...
.
*
Paulina García
Paulina García Alfonso (born 27 November 1960), better known as Pali García, is a Chilean actress, stage director, and playwright.
García debuted on television with a small role in the telenovela ''Los títeres'' (1984), but she was soon ...
as Isabel Pereira, assistant to president Piñera.
*
Adriana Barraza
Adriana Barraza González (born 5 March 1956) is a Mexican actress, acting teacher, and director.
In 1999 director Alejandro González Iñárritu cast her as the mother of Gael García Bernal's character in '' Amores perros'', which was nomin ...
as Marta Salinas.
*
Kate del Castillo
Kate del Castillo Negrete Trillo () is a Mexican-American actress. At the age of 19, del Castillo became known for her lead role in the telenovela '' Muchachitas'' for Televisa in 1991. Afterwards, she continued her career in film and televisio ...
as Katy Valdivia de Sepúlveda.
*
Cote de Pablo
María José de Pablo Fernández, known professionally as Cote de Pablo (born November 12, 1979), is a Chilean-American actress and singer. Born in Santiago, Chile, she moved to the United States at the age of ten, where she studied acting.
De ...
as Jessica Vega, the wife of Álex Vega.
*
Juan Pablo Raba
Juan Pablo Raba Vidal (born 14 January 1977) is a Colombian film, TV and telenovela actor, best known internationally for his role as Gustavo Gaviria in the 2015 Netflix series '' Narcos''.
Early life
Raba was born in Bogotá, Colombia wher ...
as Darío Segovia, drill operator and son of a miner.
*
Jacob Vargas
Jacob Vargas (born August 18, 1971) is a Mexican-American actor and performer.
Early life
Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. He attended high sc ...
as Edison "Elvis" Peña, the miners' song leader, who requested that
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
songs be sent down the mine.
*
Naomi Scott
Naomi Scott (born 6 May 1993) is an English actress and singer. Born in Hounslow, she rose to prominence for her performances in the television film '' Lemonade Mouth'' (2011) and the science fiction series '' Terra Nova'' (2011). In 2015, Scree ...
as Escarlette Sepúlveda Valdivia, Mario and Katy's daughter.
* Marco Treviño as José Henríquez, the miners' pastor, who led daily prayers within the shelter.
*
Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez on NBC's ''The Office''.
He was a member of The Groundlings and l ...
as Yonni Barrios.
*
Alejandro Goic as
Franklin Lobos.
*
Cristián Campos
Juan Cristián Campos Sallato (Punta Arenas, 31 August 1956) is a Chilean actor and director of theater, film and television.
Career
He served as Chilean cultural attaché in the city of Washington, a position in which he was appointed by Pre ...
as Hurtado, a drill expert engineer
*
Tim Willcox
Timothy Melton Willcox (born 28 May 1963 in Wellington, Somerset) is a British journalist for BBC News. He presents news programmes on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He is probably most recognisable for presenting the BBC's live cover ...
as himself.
*
Federico Luppi
Federico Luppi (; February 23, 1936 – October 20, 2017) was an Argentine-Spanish film, TV, radio and theatre actor. He won numerous awards throughout his acting career, including a Concha de Plata at the San Sebastian International Film Fest ...
*
Tenoch Huerta
José Tenoch Huerta Mejía (; born 29 January 1981) is a Mexican actor. He has appeared in a number of movies in Latin America and Spain, starring in both feature films, short films, and '' Narcos: Mexico'', credited as Tenoch Huerta. He is fe ...
as Carlos Mamani, a Bolivian miner who moved to Chile a decade prior to the events.
*
Pedro Calvo
Pedro Calvo is a popular Cuban singer sometimes affectionately nicknamed ''Pedrito'', meaning "little Pedro". He is most famous for his time with Los Van Van, one of Cuba’s premier dance bands, which he joined in 1974. During the late 1990s, ...
*
Macarena Pizarro as herself, news announcer
*
Mario Kreutzberger
Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld (; born 28 December 1940), better known by his stage name as Don Francisco (), is a Chilean television host, and a popular personality on the Univision network reaching Spanish-speaking viewers in the United ...
(Don Francisco) as himself.
*
Gustavo Angarita as Mario Gómez.
Production
Development
The film is based on the events of the
2010 Copiapó mining accident
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known then as the "Chilean mining accident", began on 5 August 2010, with a cave-in at the San José copper–gold mine, located in the Atacama Desert north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in nort ...
, also known as the "Chilean mining accident". It is directed by
Patricia Riggen
Patricia Riggen (born June 2, 1970) is a Mexican film director. She is best known for directing the 2007 film ''Under the Same Moon'' and the 2011 Disney Channel original film ''Lemonade Mouth''.
Early life and career beginnings
Riggen was born ...
and written by Mikko Alanne and
José Rivera. Producer
Mike Medavoy
Morris Mike Medavoy (born January 21, 1941) is an American film producer and business executive. He is the co-founder of Orion Pictures (1978), former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists (1974–1978), and ...
, who also produced ''
Apocalypse Now
''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conr ...
'', worked with the miners, their families, and those involved to put the film together. On 13 August 2014, it was announced that ''The 33'' would be the first film to receive the Colombian Film Commission's incentive, which includes 40% for film services and 20% for film logistics services of the amount spent in the country.
Casting
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...
, who portrays "Super" Mario Sepúlveda, is the public face for the miners who sent videos to the rescuers to update them on the miners' condition. The actual Sepúlveda expressed his enthusiasm and approval towards having Banderas in the role. Brazilian actor
Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Junqueira Reis Santoro (; born 22 August 1975) is a Brazilian actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Persian King Xerxes in the movie ''300'' (2006) and its sequel '' 300: Rise of an Empire'' (2014). Other famous movies include ' ...
plays
Laurence Golborne
Laurence Nelson Golborne Riveros (born Lorence Nelson Golborne Riveros Santiago, July 11, 1961) is a Chilean engineer and entrepreneur. He was minister of public works until November 7, 2012, when he announced his decision to run for President o ...
, Minister of Mining. On 17 June 2013, it was announced that
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
had joined to lead the cast of the film, but later left due to scheduling conflicts with ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
''. She was replaced by
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer.
She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...
.
On 10 January 2014,
Cote de Pablo
María José de Pablo Fernández, known professionally as Cote de Pablo (born November 12, 1979), is a Chilean-American actress and singer. Born in Santiago, Chile, she moved to the United States at the age of ten, where she studied acting.
De ...
joined the cast of the film; she plays the wife of one of the trapped miners.
On 27 January 2014,
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's s ...
joined the cast of the film, to play the role of Andre Sougarret, the engineering genius who masterminded the miraculous rescue of the 33 trapped miners.
Next day on 28 January,
Bob Gunton
Robert Patrick Gunton Jr. (born November 15, 1945) is an American character actor of stage and screen. He is known for playing strict authoritarian characters, including Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison drama '' The Shawshank Redemption'' ...
joined the cast of the Chilean miner filming, then shooting in Colombia; he plays the role of Chilean President
Sebastián Piñera
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022.
The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...
.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in December 2013 in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. Before shooting began, Riggen interviewed each of the miners and their families. After the shooting wrapped up in
Nemocón
Nemocón is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Nemocón, famous for its salt mine, was an important village in the Muisca Confederation, the country in the central Colomb ...
, Colombia in January, crews started filming again in
Copiapó
Copiapó () is a city and commune in northern Chile, located about 65 kilometers east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region.
Copiapó lies about 800 km nort ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
on 5 February 2014, which was the actual place of the incident. On 18 February 2014, news told that more than half of the filming was done in the
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
mine of Nemocón, Colombia, and rescue scenes were being filmed in
Tierra Amarilla, Chile
Tierra Amarilla is a Chilean commune and city in Copiapó Province, Atacama Region. According to the 2012 census, the commune population was 12,898 and has an area of 11,191 km².
Demographics
According to the 2002 census of the National ...
. Filming wrapped up on 20 February 2014.
Music
In October 2014,
James Horner
James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music.
Horner's first film score was i ...
was hired to compose the music for the film. It was the second of two scores he had completed in 2015, before his death on 22 June of that year.
Release
''The 33'' was released across Latin America through
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
starting from 6 August 2015 in Chile. It debuted in Colombia on 20 August 2015, along with the rest of Central America. Brazil was the last, where the film was released on 29 October 2015. Its United States and Canada theatrical releases were handled by
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
on 13 November 2015. The
premiere
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
in Santiago was attended by most of the leading cast, in addition to several of the miners, former President Sebastián Piñera and former minister Laurence Golborne.
Distribution
On 28 April 2015,
Alcon Entertainment
Alcon Entertainment, LLC is an American film production company, founded in 1997 by film producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Since its establishment, Alcon Entertainment has developed and financed films that are ultimately distribut ...
acquired North American and the majority of international distribution rights to ''The 33'', with
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
to distribute it. On the same day, Warner Bros, where Alcon has its output deal, set the film's release date for 13 November 2015.
Reception
Box office
According to
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray began ...
''The 33'' grossed $12.2 million in North America and $12.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $24.9 million, against its production budget of $26 million.
The data is inaccurate though since Box Office Mojo e.g. for the UK and Germany only has data for the first weekend and data for France is missing completely even though the film has been released in the country.
In North America, ''The 33'' opened alongside ''
Love the Coopers
''Love the Coopers'' (titled ''Christmas with the Coopers'' in the UK and Ireland) is a 2015 American Christmas comedy-drama film directed by Jessie Nelson and written by Steven Rogers. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Alan Arkin, Jo ...
'' and ''
My All American
''My All American'' is a 2015 American biographical drama sport film based on the life of college football player Freddie Steinmark. The film was written and directed by Angelo Pizzo. It is based on the book ''Courage Beyond the Game: The Fred ...
'' on 13 November 2015 with a very poor performance. In its opening weekend, the film was projected to gross $7–8 million from 2,452 theaters.
The film grossed $1.8 million on its opening day and $5.8 million in its opening weekend, finishing below studio projections.
In Chile, the film grossed $1.6 million on its opening weekend, 6 August 2015, showing on 140 screens. This is the second biggest opening for a Chilean film (5% behind ''Stefan v/s Kramer''), despite coinciding with a severe storm that caused flooding in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
and other parts of the country and also marked the sixth-highest opening for Fox International Productions.
It topped the box office there for five consecutive weekends and became the second highest-grossing Chilean film.
The film grossed a total of $4.9 million in Chile.
In Mexico it opened at No. 3 with $1.3 million, but ended up grossing only a total of $3 million there after three weeks in release.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 48%, based on 155 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''The 33'' offers an appropriately inspirational account of real-life heroism, but its stirring story and solid performances are undermined by a flawed focus and an overreliance on formula." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film received a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 55 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Scott Tobias of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said, "''The 33'' aims for a comprehensive survey of efforts above ground and below, but winds up looking less like a sober docudrama than a ginned-up
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...
disaster movie."
Chilean critics had mixed reviews. Ana Josefa Silva gave a mildly positive review, saying that the movie "excites and entertains", but that the good rhythm of the first half becomes stalled. She praised the acting, but criticized the use of many
cliché
A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
s, like the heroic young character (Golborne), the "inhumane" politician (Piñera) or the brave, "badass" Latina woman (Segovia). ''
Las Últimas Noticias
''Las Últimas Noticias'' ( es, The Latest News) is a Chilean, daily middle market tabloid newspaper owned by El Mercurio SAP. This company publishes various newspapers for a different audience: El Mercurio people look up to and ability to view, ...
'' stated that "while the epic of the rescue is observed thanks to the effective recreation, the agony of the rescued remains in debt in the staging", and also noted the "young and handsome" hero stereotype. ''
La Segunda
''La Segunda'' ( es, The second one) is a Chilean afternoon daily newspaper, owned by El Mercurio SAP.
Their tendency is conservative, is the first Chilean newspaper to disclose information that occurred in the morning because it is evening. Its ...
'' described it as "a catastrophe film with a life message and sentimental vocation that is not willing to give up to truisms associated with the image that Hollywood has of Hispanic America". ''
El Mercurio
''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in t ...
'' gave a negative review, criticizing the absence of people responsible for the precarious working conditions of the miners, although praising the recreation of the mine and the catastrophe.
Accuracy
Among the differences between the film and the real life story, Alex Vega was not the first man to be rescued, but Florencio Ávalos. Also, Vega's wife was not pregnant at the time. In the film, the
''Fénix'' capsule arrives empty at the rescue chamber, but actually there was a rescuer inside of it. The capsule did not get stuck with a miner inside; André Sougarret did not order the end of the rescue works before the contact with the miners; and María Segovia never slapped Laurence Golborne in the face.
See also
*
Survival film
The survival film is a film genre in which one or more characters make an effort at physical survival. It often overlaps with other film genres. It is a subgenre of the adventure film, along with swashbuckler films, war films, and safari films. S ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:33, The (film)
2015 films
2010s disaster films
2015 biographical drama films
Chilean drama films
Colombian drama films
American disaster films
American survival films
Disaster films based on actual events
Drama films based on actual events
Dune Entertainment films
Films scored by James Horner
Films directed by Patricia Riggen
Films set in 2010
Films set in Chile
Films shot in Chile
Films shot in Colombia
Films about mining
Phoenix Pictures films
2010s Spanish-language films
Warner Bros. films
20th Century Fox films
2010 Copiapó mining accident
2015 drama films
2010s English-language films
2015 multilingual films
American multilingual films
2010s American films