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Three hosts of the 3 Guys and a Flick movie review podcast with movie-themed background.
🎙 Podcast Episode 230

The 33

Join the Guys as they dig into Patricia Riggen’s true-story survival drama — where 33 Chilean miners, 69 days underground, one impossible rescue, and a whole lot of drilling math turn a collapsed mine into a global story of hope, endurance, and “please don’t let that rock make that noise again.”

Release Date November 13, 2015
Runtime 127 minutes
Director Patricia Riggen
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3 Guys and a Flick — Episode 230

The 33 (2015)

ⓘ Details

Movie TitleThe 33
Release DateAugust 6, 2015 in Chile / November 13, 2015 in the United States
TaglineHope runs deep.
Runtime127 minutes
DirectorPatricia Riggen
Screenplay Written ByMikko Alanne, Craig Borten & Michael Thomas; screen story by José Rivera
Based OnThe real 2010 Copiapó mining disaster and Héctor Tobar’s book Deep Down Dark
Is It a Remake?No. The 33 is a biographical disaster-survival drama based on real events.
BudgetApproximately $26 million
Box OfficeApprox. $12.2 million domestic / Approx. $24.9–28 million worldwide, depending on source
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👥 Main Cast

Antonio BanderasMario Sepúlveda
Rodrigo SantoroLaurence Golborne
Juliette BinocheMaría Segovia
James BrolinJeff Hart
Lou Diamond PhillipsLuis “Don Lucho” Urzúa
Mario CasasÁlex Vega
Adriana BarrazaMarta
Kate del CastilloKatty Valdivia
Cote de PabloJessica Vega
Bob GuntonSebastián Piñera
Gabriel ByrneAndré Sougarret
Oscar NuñezYonni Barrios
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🏆 Awards

⭐ IMDb lists The 33 with 8 wins and 7 nominations.
⭐ Movieguide Awards Winner — Best Movie for Mature Audiences
⭐ Camerimage Nominee — Golden Frog
⭐ Imagen Foundation Awards — Nominations recognizing performers from the film’s ensemble
⭐ The film received attention for its international cast, survival-story subject matter, and James Horner’s emotional score.
⭐ No Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, or Saturn Award nominations were verified for the film.
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📖 Short Plot Summary

In 2010, the San José Mine in Chile collapses, trapping 33 miners deep underground with limited food, heat, darkness, and no clear path to rescue. As the men struggle to ration supplies and maintain hope below the surface, their families build a protest camp above ground and pressure officials to keep searching. With engineers, drillers, politicians, relatives, and the world watching, the rescue effort becomes a race against time to reach the miners before the mountain, hunger, fear, and exhaustion break them.
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❝ Key Quotes

“We are 33.” — The miners
“Hope runs deep.” — Tagline
“That’s not a rock. That’s the heart of the mountain.” — Mario Sepúlveda
“No miner left behind.” — Rescue effort theme
“We’re not leaving until we get them out.” — Camp Hope sentiment
“They’re alive.” — Rescue breakthrough moment
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💡 Trivia

Director

  • The 33 was directed by Patricia Riggen.
  • Riggen interviewed the miners and their families while preparing the film.
  • The movie dramatizes the 2010 Copiapó mining disaster, in which 33 miners were trapped underground for 69 days.
  • The screenplay was written by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, and Michael Thomas, with screen story credit for José Rivera.
  • The film balances the underground survival story with the above-ground rescue operation and the families waiting at Camp Hope.

Cast / Casting

  • Antonio Banderas plays Mario Sepúlveda, one of the most publicly visible miners during the real rescue.
  • Lou Diamond Phillips plays Luis “Don Lucho” Urzúa, the shift foreman who helps organize the men underground.
  • Juliette Binoche plays María Segovia, the sister of miner Darío Segovia and a major voice among the waiting families.
  • Rodrigo Santoro plays Chilean Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne.
  • Gabriel Byrne plays engineer André Sougarret, one of the key figures in the rescue effort.
  • The ensemble includes actors from multiple countries, reflecting the film’s international production and global-interest story.

Soundtrack / Score

  • The score was composed by James Horner.
  • The 33 was one of Horner’s final film scores before his death in June 2015.
  • The score leans into emotion, faith, fear, and large-scale rescue drama rather than action-movie spectacle.
  • The music supports both the claustrophobic underground scenes and the swelling hope of the surface rescue effort.
  • The film also uses Spanish-language and Latin American musical textures to support its Chilean setting and cultural context.

Location

  • The real disaster happened at the San José Mine near Copiapó, Chile.
  • IMDb lists filming locations including Copiapó, Santiago, Chile, Colombia, and Nemocón, Colombia.
  • Production used the salt mine of Nemocón, Colombia, for many underground mine scenes.
  • Rescue-related material was also filmed in Chile, near the actual region of the incident.
  • The movie’s settings move between the mine, the rescue site, government spaces, family camp areas, and international media attention.

Behind-The-Scenes

  • The movie is based on the 2010 Chilean mining accident that trapped 33 men about 700 meters underground for 69 days.
  • The miners survived in a refuge chamber before rescuers finally reached them through drilling.
  • The famous note confirming they were alive — “Estamos bien en el refugio los 33” — became one of the defining real-life moments of the rescue.
  • Several rescued miners were involved around the production, and some took roles or appeared during filming connected to the story.
  • Principal photography began in Colombia in late 2013 and later continued in Chile.
  • Box Office Mojo lists the U.S. opening weekend at $5,787,266 from 2,452 theaters.

Nostalgia

  • The real Chilean miner rescue was a massive international news event in 2010.
  • The rescue capsule, the families at Camp Hope, and the “33” message became instantly recognizable symbols of endurance and survival.
  • The film arrived only five years after the real event, when much of the global audience still remembered watching the rescue unfold live.
  • For many viewers, the film plays less like a disaster movie and more like a dramatized memory of a real-world miracle broadcast around the globe.
  • The story’s appeal comes from its mix of survival, engineering, faith, family pressure, politics, and collective hope.

Easter Eggs

  • The title refers directly to the 33 miners trapped in the San José Mine.
  • The phrase “Los 33” became shorthand around the world for the trapped miners.
  • The note “Estamos bien en el refugio los 33” translates to “We are well in the shelter, the 33.”
  • The Fénix rescue capsule is a key real-life detail recreated in the film’s final rescue sequence.
  • The movie’s Camp Hope scenes reference the real encampment where families waited and pushed authorities to continue the rescue.

Misc.

  • The 33 is rated PG-13 for a disaster sequence and some language.
  • Box Office Mojo classifies the movie as biography, drama, and history.
  • Rotten Tomatoes lists the runtime at 2h 5m, while Box Office Mojo and AFI list 127 minutes.
  • Warner Bros. handled the U.S. theatrical release.
  • Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists the episode as Episode 230, with Don rating it 4.00, Ken rating it 4.00, Jon rating it 4.00, and an overall rating of 4.00.
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🔗 Sources Cited

3 Guys and a Flick — Podcast 230: The 33 3 Guys and a Flick — Ratings IMDb — The 33 IMDb — The 33 Full Cast & Crew IMDb — The 33 Awards IMDb — The 33 Quotes IMDb — The 33 Taglines IMDb — The 33 Soundtrack IMDb — The 33 Filming Locations AFI Catalog — The 33 AFI — Interview with Patricia Riggen Box Office Mojo — The 33 The Numbers — The 33 Rotten Tomatoes — The 33 Google Books — Deep Down Dark / The 33 Wikipedia — The 33
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