‘The Deepest Breath’ - Sundance
The Deepest Breath perfectly balances the beauty and nightmare found in the subculture of free diving. Laura McGann sets the tone of her documentary with an opening shot of a deep diver plunging into the ocean along a vertical rope as the sound of silence is overshadowed by a growing heartbeat.
McGann immerses the audience into the world of freediving through the accounts of Alessia Zecchini and Stephen Keenan. From an early age, Alessia wanted to be a freediver like her idol Natalia Molchanova. McGann details her journey in deep diving where she faces obstacles but remains dedicated to breaking new records. A risky lifestyle to take up only a few people understand her determination and drive in this space leading her to meet Stephen Keenan. Stephen spent time traveling until he stumbled upon the Blue Hole and was drawn to the adventure of the dangerous sport.
The Blue Hole is a diving site where the diver must dive deep to them swim underneath a submerged arch to come out on the other side to make it back to the surface. Alessia is determined to complete this course that is littered with graves for all the people who have died while attempting this feat. The dangers of freediving often happen in the last 10 meters of a dive when these athletes face the most incidents involving blackouts due to the body’s depletion of oxygen. Safety divers are on hand to assist divers, but another free diver is more beneficial to help a free diver in these times. Coming off an Irish record for free diving, Keenan opened a training center to become a safety diver leading to his path and Zecchini’s to cross. While the film opens up with a stunning nightmarish shot of freediving, The Deepest Breath is really about Zecchini’s life as an extreme athlete and how it affects those around her when she has to push herself to emotional and physical limits. Zecchini is driven to be the best in the sport while Keenan is there is provide aid so she can do so. They come together to train her to follow in the footsteps of her idol Natalia Molchanova in conquering the Blue Hole.
The film is the most interesting when McGann plays up the horrors of freediving from the pure silence and suspense of the underwater world. McGann keeps her audience hooked to find out the outcome of the dangerous dive leaving the end as a shock to the viewers that almost feels manipulative. This decision limits her storytelling ability as she relies on talking heads from the diver’s friends and families on the experience instead of directly from the diver's point of view. With Stephen and Alessia’s story at the heart of the film, it feels like a missed opportunity to not explore insight into their relationship.
The Deepest Breath is gorgeously shot with incredible underwater visuals that perfectly capture the exhilaration and terror of freediving to provide an understanding of why Alessia and her fellow drivers are drawn to the darkness of the sea. It is hypnotic as you spend moments in silence as the world fades away below the surface. Alessia must rely on herself in this state only emphasizing the importance of having a strong mind and body to take on this tragic quest. While these divers aren’t afraid to plunge into new depths, McGann is hesitant to go deeper into the psychology of her subjects. McGann makes it pretty clear no matter how skilled someone is at free diving, they are not immune to the dangers.