REEL | Diving Under the North Sea – Taking the 'Last Breath'

"I'm just not ready for the scrap heap yet."

Focus Features / Elevation Pictures

Last Breath co-director Alex Parkinson remakes his 2019 documentary of the same name as a dramatized narrative deep sea survivalist film based on the harrowing real-life saturation diving accident in 2012 that left Scottish diver Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) stranded a hundred metres under the North Sea without any heat or light and only a limited oxygen supply.

Famous faces like Simu Liu and Woody Harrelson co-star as Lemons' fellow seasoned veteran divers. Parkinson uses process and pace to establish its underwater environment before tragedy strikes. Otherwise, the tense recreation carefully employs professional diving tactics to reveal its rescue options and eventual mission. It does its best to refrain from manufactured drama or rescue movie clichés while still establishing its characters' interior lives.

The Last Breath proves itself a fine and worthy dramatization of actual events. How it unfolds and shows the dangers and struggles of deep sea diving makes it both a gripping and thrilling experience of pure human tension. You can effectively feel every moment of the twenty-nine minutes Lemons was out of oxygen while desperately hoping for his survival on screen.


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