Film: Last Breath

Tonight, I was back with Movie Roadhouse London (MRL) for Last Breath, starring Woody Harrelson in the true story of the rescue of a deep-sea diver, Chris Lemons. We were heading to the Odeon Luxe West End. So I booked Bella Italia on Cranbourn Street again for beforehand.

As I planned my journey, I noticed the TFL warning about a route change for this month - ahah, so the #188 is terminating, temporarily, at Holborn because of roadworks! Well, now I know. And so, when Google Maps - which, despite advertising TFL's warnings, obviously doesn't take them into account - suggested a number of route options involving the #188.. I made sure to choose one that involved changing to another bus. Which went just fine, and I made my booking with 10 minutes to spare.

A huge welcome from the staff, and I was seated upstairs - handy, as I remarked, considering that's where the ladies' is, and I needed it! The waiter pre-empted my wine order, and it was waiting for me when I got back. As someone else took my food order, she asked, out of curiosity, whether I lived in the area, considering I was in so often - no, as I told her, I just come in when I'm going to something nearby! which tends to happen a lot. And with the gorgeous chicken fries and chicken milanese, why wouldn't I..?

Tonight's organiser made it to the cinema a little before I did - and as I walked there, across the square, I passed the Odeon Leicester Square. Honestly, it's ridiculous - the Odeon Leicester Square and the Odeon West End, both in Leicester Square, in the West End.. could they be more confusing? They do say outside, so check before you go in! Anyway, I made it to the right place and headed downstairs, where both bar and screens are. There he was, and we chatted happily, another couple of people joining us afterwards... including the group organiser, taking a night off. :-) I went to the bar for drinks a couple of times, and had great fun, running up and down the long counter as they sent me first to one end, then the other..

Lovely, reclining leather seats in this cinema, and little swivel tables on the arms, complete with cupholders. And so to the film.. Based on real events, as I say, which were also the subject of a documentary of the same name, by the same director, some years back. Watching the trailer for that, I have to say, really brought the movie to mind - they did reproduce many underwater scenes exactly.

Phew.. I've always had the greatest admiration for anyone who works on the sea - particularly coastguards, who regularly go out in terrible conditions to rescue others. This crew had to help each other, though - no-one was coming from the outside to help them, in the wilds of the North Sea. The job should have been a routine one - just repair and maintenance of an oil pipeline, running along the seabed. It's a measure of how dangerous the job is that this diver nearly died..

Simply, there was a terrible storm - which should have been ok; they were equipped for it, used to it: indeed, this part of the world is known for terrible weather. He and another diver were working on the seabed when the ship's Dynamic Positioning System, designed to keep them in place, failed.. and what with the wind and the swell, the ship was pushed far off-course. Anchors could have been used - but as the captain explains to someone who suggests it, not with those oil pipelines on the seabed! They couldn't risk puncturing one. Now, this might all have been ok - if they hadn't had a couple of divers underwater at this point, connected to the ship by umbilical tethers that supply power for their lights, hot water to heat their suits in the freezing water, and heliox, a mix of oxygen and helium that is more easily breathable, and is also used by patients that have difficulty breathing. The tethers also carry communications between the divers and the ship.

Well, as the ship lurches away, Chris' tether snags and snaps. The other diver can do nothing but save himself, promising to return - Chris now has just a few minutes of oxygen left in a reserve tank. As the ship's crew struggle to get the ship under control and back to where it's supposed to be, the divers are desperate to get back to their stranded colleague.. it's no secret that, in the time it took for all this to happen, he was left without oxygen for 30 minutes.

Out of control machines are a phobia of mine. I am terrified of cars' brakes failing, and anything to do with ships on a rough sea will have me wincing. So I found this more terrifying than many a horror film I've seen. We have plenty of shots of high seas, the large ship being tossed like a toy. I felt positively seasick in parts. And I literally couldn't watch at the point where the ship lurches away, and you know the tether is going to snap..

So yes, I really enjoyed this. I found it tense, exciting.. the fact that you know he survives doesn't spoil any of that, and of course, Woody Harrelson always does a good job of looking concerned. It truly is a miracle that the diver survived - they speculate it was something to do with the water temperature, and the rich oxygen mixture he'd received. These days, I see he's a motivational speaker.. well, fair play. It was also nice to see real-life footage of him at the end of the film, including his wedding, shortly after the accident. So yes, highly recommended!

Tomorrow, I've got a streaming ticket for the Crick Crack Club (CCC) - they're doing Dionysus in the Story Museum Oxford. But you know, they always provide these as a recording too, available for a week afterwards - so I've also booked one of the last tickets to a free performance of Beethoven's Septet, by the Philharmonia Chamber Players, at the Royal Festival Hall. Heading to The Archduke again afterwards.

Friday is film again - and again I was tempted by MRL, who are going to La Infiltrada (Undercover), another fact-based film about a Spanish police officer who worked undercover in ETA for eight years. Only showing in the Ciné Lumiere (ironically), and we're meeting in the cafe there beforehand.

On Saturday, my now-monthly walk with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies! This one is Secrets, Sophistication & Scandal.

And afterwards, I'll be joining - yes, MRL again, for Flow, a gorgeous-looking animation centred around a cat, fleeing a flood with a group of other animals. Very Noah's Ark, but without the humans, it seems. We're seeing it in Curzon Soho.

On Sunday, the CCC live - another Sunday afternoon at the British Museum, lovely! This one is The Heart of a Hero: The Epic of Banu Hilali, as told by the excellent Chirine El Ansary. And afterwards, the only time this month I could squeeze in a social with my ex-colleagues - well, James, at least; Ivan can't make it, and Martin hasn't yet got back to me. Anyway, we're thinking of heading to Il Castelletto.

On Monday, I'll probably head to The Alto Knights, a new Robert de Niro gangster film, yet again based on real-life events. Also stars Debra Messing. The Curzon Aldgate is the closest to me, and I could eat at Cote St. Katharine Docks.

On Tuesday, back at last with Over 40 Living the Life, for dinner at the Greenwich Yacht Club. They've had a few of these lately, but they've always clashed with something.

Next Wednesday, more storytelling - this time, back at Folklore Hoxton, tickets through Dice again. And again, I'm eating at the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch.

On the 27th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for (This is Not a) Happy Room, at The King's Head, Islington. And then I'm back to Ireland for another long weekend.. this being the weekend of Mother's Day..