by Liam Ridolfi
Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jill Heinerth
Intro:
… a deeply intimate, awe-inspiring cinematic experience …
Award-winning independent filmmaker and experienced underwater cameraman Nays Baghai splashed onto the scene with his critically acclaimed debut Descent (2020), a compelling portrayal of ice freediver Kiki Bosch. Now, Baghai follows his striking debut with Diving into the Darkness, an even more inspiring and intense exploration of the watery unknowns of our planet, as he dives into the mysteriously beautiful scenery of deep water caves through the film’s central vessel – accomplished Canadian cave diver Jill Heinerth. What follows is a deeply intimate, awe-inspiring cinematic experience, one anchored by both the charming real-life protagonist as well as Baghai’s fierce grip of his craft.
The film opens with a quote from James Cameron: “More people have been to the moon than to the places Jill Heinerth has explored deep inside our watery planet.”
It is impossible to discuss Diving into the Darkness without first acknowledging its bewilderingly beautiful cinematography. Baghai’s masterful eye ensures that we fully appreciate this fact over the next 98 minutes. The sweeping, stunning shots of underwater caves are wide and remarkably lit – as if the clear, natural sunlight peering through the overhead cracks of the cave were specifically designed to communicate its beauty. As Heinerth compellingly communicates her exploits, we are met with dramatic recreations that are just as astonishingly beautiful as they are exciting. The sequences underwater are sometimes intensely claustrophobic and other times surprisingly soothing, all thanks to an assured and precise style that marries Heinerth’s’s riveting story with an equally cinematic visual journey.
Perhaps what enlivens the film’s visual flair the most, however, is Baghai’s intimate and sensitive portrayal of Jill Heinerth herself, as well as her relationship with husband Robert McClellan. As Heinerth begins to detail her life-long connection to cave diving, we are quickly swept up in her charm and charisma. Heinerth is also a public speaker, and it really shows as the first-hand accounts of her expeditions leap off the screen with enthusiasm, passion and humour. Like any strong protagonist/audience relationship, we immediately get behind her, with her innate likeability and humanity expertly revealed through long monologues, not only describing the sheer danger of the situations, but also revealing her personal emotional conflicts connected to them as well. Another brilliant creative choice is to shine a particular focus on the most personal thoughts and feelings of her husband, as his love and concern for his partner only enriches the stakes and reaffirms to us just how special Heinerth’s passion for diving really is.
A powerful and magical marriage of real-life adventure and stunning visual imagery, Diving into the Darkness is a breathtaking sensory experience. A celebration of risking the highest of stakes for the most intense of passions, both Nays Baghai and Jill Heinerth bring us into an unknown world, and leave us feeling terrified, thrilled and rewarded.