Netflix recently dropped one of its ‘best ever’ documentaries onto the streaming site and it’s leaving viewers totally ‘broken’.
The Deepest Breath is a Netflix original and follows the story of Italian champion Alessia Zecchini and Ireland’s Stephen Keenan in the world of freediving.
Rated 12, the nearly two-hour-long documentary is written and directed by Irish filmmaker Laura McGann, also known for Revolutions and Wartgirl.
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Netflix’s official description of The Deepest Breath reads: “Bonded by their love of freediving, a record-setting champion and a heroic safety diver try to make history with a remarkable feat, ready to risk it all.”
Freediving in itself is a pretty gripping thing to watch. It’s a very dangerous extreme sport where competitors attempt to dive to unbelievable depths and hold their breath underwater until resurfacing without using any scuba gear.
Now, quick heads up, this article contains a few spoilers, so you might want to stop here if you want to go into the doc fresh.
In The Deepest Breath, Zecchini is hoping to set a new freediving world record and is assisted by safety diver Keenan – with the pair adorably falling in love.
Safety divers like him are a necessity as freedivers can often have blackouts during their ascent to the surface.
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The pair train together as the Italian prepares to take on the legendary Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt.
This will challenge her to dive 184 feet below the Red Sea and swim through an 85-foot-long tunnel to the safety rope on the other side.
Here, she is supposed to be met by Keenan. However, it goes tragically wrong.
Kennan is late and isn't there when Zecchini reaches the end of the tunnel and she cannot see him.
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In a bid to save her, Keenan appears at the last moment and pushes Zecchini to the surface after she had blacked out.
He blacks out himself face down in the water and tragically dies.
And viewers can’t take how emotional the edge-of-your-seat documentary is.
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They write on Twitter: “I was basically already wet with tears, but this, this broke me,” as they share the final image of Keenan with Zecchini.
Another wrote: “If you want to know when I last cried, it was a few minutes ago at the end of The Deepest Breath. What a film, one of the great documentaries.”
One put: “The last image of him bringing her to the surface will live in my mind forever.”
And another said: “Just watched The Deepest Breath. F***ing hell, I recall seeing something a while back about an Irish diver dying, didn’t realise the back story.
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"What a f***ing hero, sad as f**k how it ended. The last image of him ever, saying someone he loved.”
A fifth agreed: “That doccie was amazing. Heartbreaking. Beautiful. Sad. Poignant. Touching. Eye opening.”
The Deepest Breath is now available to watch on Netflix.
Topics: Netflix, TV And Film, Documentaries
Jess Battison