Chile relives mine accident drama with movie premiere

SANTIAGO, Chile—At almost every bus and metro stop in Chile’s capital city, commuters can count on seeing a poster for The 33. The Hollywood movie premiered in Chile on Thursday, the day after the five-year anniversary of the film’s inspiration, a mining accident that trapped 33 Chilean miners underground for 69 days. They set a new record for the longest time spent below the earth’s surface.

The accident, relief efforts, and the miners’ miraculous survival made international headlines, and the producers capitalized on that publicity for every step in making the $62 million film. One trailer advertised it as “the Chilean story that moved the heart of the whole world.” The movie opens in the United States on Nov. 13.

Eduardo Guajardo saw the film Friday in Santiago and said The 33 successfully captured the real events and emotions of the miners and their families.

“The characters are super well played, so when Mario Sepúlveda came out, you saw Super Mario,” he said, referring to the nickname of the main character played by Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.

In a visit to Chile last year, Banderas recalled the real-life drama surrounding the accident’s aftermath and the miners’ eventual rescue.

“Millions of people, and I include myself, were glued to the TV following this story as these men held to the rocks inside that mine for nearly 70 days with the only dream of getting to see sunlight again,” the actor said.

While what could have been a terrible tragedy ended happily, it hasn’t been happily ever after for some of the miners.

Years after the accident, many still suffer nightmares and depression. Gifts and press coverage slowly waned, and some of them struggle to find and keep good jobs. Although the movie producers compensated the men for the rights to their story, minerJuan Carlos Aguilar complained recently that their contract prevents them from publicizing the story in a book or commercial.

The accident provoked questions about the mine’s safety, but an investigation came to a dead end in 2013.