Review: Deeper – Diving into the abyss
Directed by Jennifer Peedom
Featuring Richard Harry Harris, Craig Challen
8/10
Australian director Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa) has brought us a rare insight into the inner circle of a small army of friends brought together by their expertise and obsession with cave diving. At the centre of this are 2019 Australia of the Year winners Dr Richard ‘Harry’ Harris and his diving partner Dr Craig Challen, who, in 2018, were both instrumental in the massive operation to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from the Tham Luang Caves. This time around, they’re chasing a more personal goal with no lives at stake but their own.
At the centre of Deeper is the submerged cave of the Pearse River, a point of focus in the lives of both Harris and Challen, who are no strangers to diving and exploring this site, which due to its depth is alluring to cave divers. After failing at an attempt to dive it, returning and pressing on further than anyone else has before, Harris and his friends (calling themselves the Wet Mules) encounter the limits of the human body and the neurological impacts of HPNS (High-Pressure Nervous Syndrome) from diving at such depths and decide to press further with the highly risky method of hydrogen diving, which makes breathing easier when navigating the cold dark abyss. It’s here that the whole team will pull together over three weeks to prepare for and attempt this record-breaking and dangerous dive into a dark and alien world.
Deeper finds some fascinating aspects of obsession and risk to explore here, and every time Harris emerges with his life intact, you can’t help but see him as walking out of a casino with his winnings but drawn insidiously by the temptation of going back in to risk it all for just a little more. And we’re treated to the perspective of Harris’ wife, Fiona, who laments the fact that she acknowledges that this dangerous hobby makes her husband happy and that she loves him too much to deny him this happiness.
It’s very easy to see her concern. Whilst the risks are huge, Harris and his Wet Mules seem to have every risk considered, managed, and discussed. At one point, his diving partner Craig makes an emotional decision to avoid the penultimate dive, acknowledging that he isn’t in the right place to continue despite the gargantuan efforts and no doubt money (they have a camp chef) he and his friends have poured into getting that single endeavour done safely. And yet they have the confidence that they know what they’re doing to consider the risk of adding hydrogen to Harris’ breathing mixture, requesting the film crew shoot from further away in case the transfer causes detonation.
To be fair on the Wet Mules, they inspire confidence that they know what they’re doing. They aren’t the billionaires imploding on the sub. Peedom’s film goes to lengths to show us: they’re the seasoned and safety-conscious experts scratching their heads when the incompetence of the sub designer is revealed—and yet there’s still a bit of pioneering spirit of adventure happening whenever these blokes appear to roll the dice, and when they do it comes down to the fact that planning can only get you so far. You have to flick the switch at some point to see if your hypothesis is correct or if you blow yourself up.
JOHN HOLDCROFT
Deeper will be screening this Sunday, October 12 at Luna Leederville, at 3:30pm and 6:30pm. The 3:30pm session will feature a Live Q&A with Dr Richard Harris and Dr Craig Challen. Get your tickets here.