Ever since Kevin Macdonald's 2003 feature 'Touching the Void,' documentary filmmakers have had a fascination with sport stars or explorers who will go to dangerous extremes.
'Man On A Wire,' 'Senna,' 'Road,' Free Solo,' 'Fire of Love' and 'Finding Michael' have documented high wire walking, motor racing, mountaineering and the photographing of erupting volcanoes.
Now we can add Irish documentary filmmaker Laura McGann's 'The Deepest Breath' to the list which centres on the dangerous sport of free diving.
Acquired by Netflix after it was screened to great acvlaim this year at the Sundance Film Festival, it is a nerve shredding study of a sport where competitors go as deep as they can go into to the darkest parts of the sea without an oxygen tank.
Your nerves are immediately set on edge by a hint in the film of a dreadful tragedy occurring later on.
In what feels like a foreboding opening sequence, we see one of the two people featured in the documentary, the Italian diver Alessia Zecchini emerging from the water as she experiences a blackout.
Other divers come to her aid as her eyes roll back in her head.
While she survives, the message is clear.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandThis is an extreme sport whose competitors are constantly stalked by the possibility of death.
Holding their breath, free divers swim down to the depths of the ocean, grab a disc to confirm how far they have gone and then swim back up while not inhaling.
Other safety divers wait for them to reappear from the darkness 30 feet towards the surface.
However those safety divers have to think and act quickly if they spot a diver in trouble.
Any delay could mean brain damage or death.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandVery often, competitors holding their breath for two to three minutes can black out.
Their brain shuts down and sometimes the pressure on their lungs is so intense, their blood vessels burst and blood fills their airwaves, choking them.
Competitors can emerge out of the water looking as if they are in a catatonic state as their fellow divers administer oxygen to those in trouble.
Irishman Stephen Keenan is one of those safety divers in the film, with many regarding him as one of the best in the business.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandMcGann tells the stories of Zecchini and Keenan in parallel by interviewing friends and family.
She assembles stunning footage of their escapades on land and sea from videos, phones and underwater cameras.
And as the stories of their separate lives unfold, we know they will eventually and spectacularly merge.
From an early age, we see how Alessia was fixated by the sea and in her teens by the Russian legend, Natalia Mochonova in particular.
Encouraged by her dad Enzo to pursue her passion but unable to compete in free diving events until she was 18, we she her learning how to lock her breath before diving into the ocean and testing it to see how long she could last.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandAlessia obsessively practises in a swimming pool, honing her technique from the age of 14 until she is allowed to compete.
Eventually when she is permitted at 18 to take part in free diving competitions in swimming pools and make it to national competitions, she makes an immediate splash but that's not enough.
Spurred on by a desire to be the best and emulate her heroine Natalia Mochonova, Alessia isn't content with regularly coming second in the nationals to Ilaria Bonini.
She eventually achieved her initial goal of becoming an Italian champion but sets her sights on matching and then breaking Mochonova's records which also means mastering the challenges of the sea.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandThis pits her in a 'Chariots of Fire' style rivalry against the talented Japanese free diver Hankao Hirose, with both of them testing their limits in an attempt to match and then outdo Mochonova's achievements in the sport.
Stephen is portrayed in the other storyline by his father Peter as a restless soul who developed a fascination with the sea and nature during his childhood in Ireland.
We see how the death of his mother had a huge impact on his need to live life to the full.
His restless soul takes him in the film on treks to the Congo, Sierra Leone and Nigeria while friends back home settle down and have kids - something you suspect he wants to do while he wrestles with his desire to see the world.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandMcGann shows the Dubliner going to the coastal town of Dahab in Egypt where he develops a love for free diving and quickly makes friends from around the world as an instructor.
Developing a love for the dangerous sport, there's footage of him competing and almost dying during one deep diving event.
However that experience results in him becoming the most respected safety diver in the business, putting his skills to great use by rescuing Natalia Mochonova's son in one competition.
Stephen and Alessia's paths eventually cross in a competition in the Bahamas where she blacks outs three times in an intense battle with her Japanese rival.
Through interviews with friends and fellow competitors, we see the romantic spark that develops between them as Alessia starts to train with Stephen.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandThat spark will lead them back to Dahab where Alessia will take on one of the most perilous challenges in free diving, the Blue Hole.
This requires her to swim through a corral cave and find a rope on the other side to guide her to the surface.
Miss it and it could have catastrophic consequences.
The scale of the challenge is such that we are told that the Blue Hole has taken over 100 lives and is regarded as more perilous than Mount Everest.
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© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandThrough the underwater footage McGann has assembled, the interviews she conducts and the addition of a foreboding, slowing heartbeat on the soundtrack during the deep dives, 'The Deepest Breath' becomes another compelling documentary about people who obsessively put their lives on the line to pursue their passion.
Her film features stunning underwater images captured by Tim Cragg, Julie Gautier and Eleanor Bowman that capture the amazing clash of darkness and light in the sea.
These images are elegantly stitched together by film editor Julian Hart.
However McGann expertly steers her ship, pulling together such a compelling story that you feel devastated when tragedy inevitably strikes.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandAs gorgeous and frightening as the competitive sequences are, McGann never really addresses why free divers like Alessia and Stephen are prepared to risk their lives for this most physically demanding of sports.
Then again, a lot of these types of documentaries don't.
Some people seem to be thrill seekers and boundary pushers.
There's no point in analysing why.
© Netflix, A24, Raw TV, Motive Pictures & VenturelandLike the road racers in 'Road,' it seems to be a compulsion and there's the same competitive drive that spurs them on to take risks while knowing the dangers.
The divers in 'The Deepest Breath' seem hypnotised by nature and the need to test themselves in the face of it.
As McGann's beautiful and compelling documentary once again demonstrates how watching people dice with death can be hypnotic too.
But be warned sitting in your cinema seat or couch: it can be stressful too.
('The Deepest Breath' was released in selected UK and Irish cinemas on July 14, 2023 and was made available for streaming on July 19, 2023)
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