Re: Re: [Texascavers] Sanctum

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 07:53:08 -0800 (PST)

Mercy killings?  Did they split up his gear?
 
T


Feb 8, 2011 05:50:04 PM, [email protected] wrote:
"Not a dive trip"? Huh? Nullabor was very much a cave diving trip/expedition. They used large underwater sleds (aka big diver propulsion vehicles) to haul massive amounts of tanks over long distances...and used dive "scooters".....and besides the epic flood and the "incident"; the cave and exploration were notable because of the length of underwater penetration by the divers. Someone, please correct me if I am wrong, but at the time the length of underwater traverse at Nullabor was considered a significant undertaking. And it would have been a note worthy expedition...even if the cave had not flooded in such spectacular fashion.

I looked at the sketch map on the National Geo site for Nullabor...and I thought there was much cave mapped than what the sketch map indicates...has anyone seen another map of Nullabor?

Also...As Sanctum supposedly takes place in Papua New Guinea...I was curious about PNG...and have been reading "Beneath the Cloud Forests" by Howard M. Beck. it is a history of cave exploration in PNG. Its a very interesting account of the early explorations and expeditions. My only complaint thus far...is I wish the book had a better overall map of the Caving Areas. I had to resort to referring to another map to keep track of where everyone was going to find caves.

As for the film....well...I chalked it up to Hollywood and entertainment. I am not a big fan of the "mercy killings" either....nor was I fond of the plot twist that sent the cavers further into the cave to escape the flooding. And I thought having an in-cave camp a foot or two above the sump pool was a bit ridiculous. But then so was the use of a fancy computer at the in cave camp...and having the cave wired with lighting. And did anyone else notice that they had 3 in cave camps...but it only seemed to take them a few hours to get to the dive camp? But those are nit-picky criticisms of details. So...we all know that one can not rely on Hollywood for a sense of realism or accurate detail in a caving movie. But then Hollywood films have never been about realism. One can see that in other new films such as True Grit...time, space, detail, and geography are all distorted in the storytelling within a film...and this distortion is deliberate and intentional to hold the attention of the audience....it is a part of the genre of film.

I might add that I thought the character development was a miss also...they hinted at the motivations of cavers to explore...but only on the shallow superficial level of a cliche...for all of the fancy stunts and special effects; they failed to capture the human experience of exploration...or for lack of a better term the "act" of caving. What drives people to explore caves? Sanctum could have asked that question...instead of bogging itself down in showy stunts and mercy killings.

I am not embarrassed in the least bit for James Cameron...but it is unfortunate that "Sanctum" is such a spectacular missed opportunity to create a more "authentic" film about the nature of exploration and the underground world.

My 5 cents...

--- On Tue, 2/8/11, Karen Perry wrote:

From: Karen Perry
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Sanctum
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 9:37 AM

The only thing I found in common with Nullabor was both take place in a cave. Nullabor wasn't a diving trip & was 13 people & no one died or was seriously injured.
Karen

--- On Mon, 2/7/11, David Ochel wrote:

From: David Ochel
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Sanctum
To: [email protected]
Date: Monday, February 7, 2011, 10:57 PM

So, Bill,

Is there anything on:

> Based on the true story of co-writer Andrew Wight. He once went cave
> diving and became trapped with fourteen other people in a cave for
> two days. Their entrance collapsed and they had to look for another
> way out.
>
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881320/trivia

in your library?

Here is what Google found:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/sanctum-the-real-story-6322/blog

http://www.cavediving.com.au/cave-diving-articles/1988/12/4/13-hauled-to-safety-from-cave/

By the way, as opposed to others, I was reasonably entertained by the
movie... ;-)

Cheers,
David


On 1/27/11 6:48 PM, Mixon Bill wrote:
> They certainly do play fast and loose with geography. The original event
> on which the story was based was in Australia. The cave in the movie is
> said to be in Papua New Guinea, which is a great area for caves, but
> with its high relief, I wouldn't expect the very long, easy (except for
> length) sumps like in the original cave in Australia. And then of course
> some of the stuff appears to have been shot at Golondrinas in Mexico.
> Poetic license. -- Mixon
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--
David Ochel, mailto:[email protected]

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