THE STORY – In a remote part of New Zealand, lies a cold, dark and mysterious cave system with the potential to be the deepest dived cave in the world. It’s here that explorer and hero of the Thai cave rescue Richard “Harry” Harris is searching for a sense of self. There’s no question that this is the highest stakes dive he has ever attempted. Underground, underwater, with a finite amount of gas to breathe, it’s a dangerous game to play. So what drives Harry to continue in his pursuit when he knows the cost – not just to himself, but to those he loves – and will he make it back to them?
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Jennifer Peedom (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 87 Minutes
Most people now know the name of Dr. Richard “Harry” Harris, whether from the news story that captivated the world in 2018 when a group of amateur cave divers helped rescue a Thai youth soccer team, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s documentary about it (“The Rescue“), or Ron Howard’s dramatization of it, “Thirteen Lives,” in which Joel Edgerton played Harris. That story has so much inherent drama that the stress and difficulty of cave diving can easily be missed, lost amidst concerns about the horrible monsoon and the fact that the lives of innocent children were on the line in addition to those of the divers. Therefore, it could seem like there is still an aspect of the story that can be mined for additional cinematic ventures: What goes on in the heads of people who spend their free time preparing for and executing expeditions in which any one of dozens of things could go wrong and kill them at any given moment?
Unfortunately, that’s not entirely true. In the past few years, this portrait of extreme sports enthusiasts has become something of a new trope in documentary filmmaking: “Free Solo,” about free solo rock climbing; “Space Cowboy,” about skydiving; and “The Deepest Breath,” about free diving. These are just the first ones that come to mind. A cornerstone of this genre of documentary is an in-depth look at the psychology of the film’s subjects, interrogating their desire to participate in these extreme sports and investigating the toll it takes on them and their loved ones. “Deeper,” the new documentary about Harris’s 2023 dive into New Zealand’s Pearse Resurgence, what could be the deepest diveable cave on the planet, plays by this new genre playbook to a T: The emotional and physical stakes of the expedition are leaned on heavily in the film’s opening, the expedition is beset with minor setbacks and small errors for the bulk of the middle, but everything goes swimmingly for the final dive in the film’s conclusion, which has just enough stress to make for a dramatic watch and to make the subject reconsider their future with this, if only for a moment.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this formula, but “Deeper” plays by it so strictly that it ends up robbing the film of any excitement because it’s obvious that everyone survives. Even at key moments that try to play up the drama, the filmmaking team gives the game away by including post-event narration from the people in life-threatening positions, letting the audience relax right when they should be gripping their armrests out of fear. In a way, this is reflective of the nature of the film’s subjects, all of whom are rather reserved, stoic Australians who never let the stress of the moment overtake them because panic can only make things worse for you when you’re diving. This is great for the film’s introductory section, as they explain in clear, non-technical language how diving to this depth (over 200m) is so dangerous and what each person’s role is in the process.
However, the only team member who gets any real depth is Harris, who has a wife and two kids at home who worry about him while he goes on dives and wonder why he continues. Harris does get vulnerable in attempting to explain why he’s so drawn to cave diving, and this cave in particular, but what he says isn’t even a slight surprise: He’s obsessed with this cave simply because it is there, and no one has reached the bottom. When he’s away from it, all he can think about is how to get deeper. This is the last thing he has to conquer, and while he has a heart-rending revelation during the issue-laden 13 hours of decompression following the dive, it’s hard not to wonder just how long his resolve to be done with the Pearse Resurgence will last. After all, this dive involved a new technique using hydrogen for breathing that worked as well as the team could have hoped for, and Harris’s enthusiasm for diving surely won’t just disappear overnight. Due to his reserved nature, “Deeper” works far better as a portrait of this particular dive than it does as a portrait of Harris, and even on that front, it leaves quite a bit to be desired.
