Chilean mine disaster docudrama caught in a writing trap

“The 33,” about a real-life Chilean mining disaster that ensnared 33 miners, contains its fair share of scary and inspirational moments, but it often gets trapped under the superficiality of its script.

The canary in the coal mine appears in the first scene of this English-language movie, when we visit a retirement party and not one character is developed, unless you consider impersonating Elvis or seeking employment to be character development.

Director Patricia Riggen delivers an effectively foreboding sequence in which the workers enter the claustrophobic shaft, and she reconstructs the cave-in with a frightening flair that gives us a visceral sense of being trapped.

[...] when the rocks stop falling and the miners hole up down deep, the shallowness of the screenplay begins to choke the air out of the film.

There is a lot of ground to cover here: 33 miners, lots of family members, a host of government officials, and the media-sensation disaster itself.

The tense rescue of the first miner is exhilarating, and even the most jaded of viewers will be moved by the reunions of the workers and their families — not to mention the final scene at the beach.