By Luis Horacio Pineda, Contributing Writer

The film “The 33” written by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Michael Thomas, and José Rivera based on the novel Deep down dark by Héctor Tobar, was directed by Mexican director Patricia Riggen. A survival drama inspired by true events based on 2010 mining disaster, in which a group of 33 miners got trapped inside the San José mine in Copiapó, Chile. We can tell the difference from Patricia´s first feature film Under the same moon (2007) to The 33 (2015). This film was released on November 13th made more than 5 million dollars the first weekend. This is the syncretism of a foreign storyteller with a Hollywood production.

I did a project where I had to shoot inside of various mines. The first scene took me right back to that moment when the camera travels inside the mine. I could feel the heat, the humidity, and the lack of air immediately. It is very difficult to make a film specially if you are a woman. I believe Patricia did a very good job adapting to a Hollywood way of telling stories. The cast was not my favorite, but some of the few actors that we recognize did a great job. The continuous rhythm and the suspenseful mood of the film was always present.

The fact that you are telling a story in English with Latino accents might offend Latin-Americans but will be a catalyst for this product to be sold in the American industry. The story is predictable yes, because we all know what happened and how they got rescued. But the story made me cry twice and that means this film accomplished its most precious goal: To extract a deep feeling from the audience.