I just watched 47 Meters Down (2017) and let me tell you, it triggered anxious feelings in my body and made me wish I had chill pills available at my disposal… no joke, the movie was that intense!
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
47 Meters Down tells the story of two sisters vacationing in Mexico, one of them is there to have fun and the other to prove that she is “capable” of having fun (guy drama, don’t ask). After a night of partying they decide to go scuba diving with the men they met and oh you better believe that it was a bad choice, but not because being adventurous is wrong, or because trusting total cute strangers on a foreign country is wrong, no, no, it was a bad choice because drama girl lied about knowing how to dive and, moreover, did not speak up when noticing how badly in shape the SEA ESTA (siesta = nap / sleeping with the fishes) was. Listen, I know nothing about scuba diving, but I can tell you that if I saw that the cage responsible for keeping me safe and away from sharks was all rusty, and that the chains and cables holding it looked like some flimsy pieces of whatever, you better believe I would be the first one saying No gracias.
So, okay, the sisters make it to the cage, take a few pictures for the gram (ew, I hate that I said that), drop the camera and bam! It gets swallowed by a shark! No bueno. Do you know what else is No Bueno? The fact that the flimsy chains and cables break and release the cage to the bottom of the ocean, 47 meters down. Oh shit-o.
This is when the real movie begins.
The monster, the bad guy, the villain of the movie is not the shark trying to eat the sisters, or el gringo businessman turning a blind eye to the lies he was told so he could make some cash, or the human nature of the females making them not trust their instincts just to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, no, no, the ocean, the ocean is the one mutherf*cking enemy.
The ocean—not suited for air-breathing humans—is the one imposing all the obstacles for escaping, seeing, breathing, and surviving. Remember, the ocean is the home of all aquatic animal life and, yes, that includes scary-looking sharks. The sharks see food and they want to eat it, simple. On the other hand, the sisters don’t want to become food and don’t want to be eaten, not so simple.
I am not going to tell you how the movie ends or if anyone dies, but I will say this, if you have not seen the movie and choose to watch it, please be prepared to experience some legit scary moments, and I don’t mean boo-moments, no, no, I mean oh-my-god-I-fee-I-can’t-breathe moments. Needless to say, the filmmakers executed beautifully what it must feel like to be in a dangerous situation deep in the ocean, trapped, in darkness, unable to communicate, with oxygen tanks running out, hurt, surrounded by sharks, with your instincts telling you to just swim straight up but knowing that if you do it then the pressure would kill you, but also knowing that if you do nothing then time would kill you, or that if you leave the cage then the sharks would kill you. F*ck. The movie was a real worst case scenario nightmare, a messed up catch-22 if you ask me. Ay dios mio!
Adios amigos,
—Marath
© 2016-2019