How a rescue mission united a country

A story of courage and resilience, ‘The Lost Children’explores the rescue mission for the four children who got stranded in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a plane crash.

In the hands of Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel, the 40-day ‘Operation Hope’ becomes a narrative of the power of togetherness in a divided world. Magdalena Mucutuy and her four children were travelling on the ill-fated Cessna 206 aircraft from Araracuara in Amazonas province to San Jose del Guaviare on May 1, 2023. The plane crash killed all the three adults, including their mother. The rescuers had a hard time locating the crash site.

Finding no bodies of the children there filled them of hope of finding Lesly (13), Soleiny (9), Tien (4), and Cristin (11 months old) alive.

As a Colombian special unit, under the leadership of Commander Sanchez, hits the inhospitable jungle, the challenge is not just the vast forest; the rebel guerrillas are looking for the children too.

If finding the plane took days, and some more to retrieve the bodies through the mangled remains, a rummaged suitcase gave the rescuers hope of the children having wandered off for safety. As the day count mounts, the hope of finding the children gets slimmer. But what keeps the rescuers going is their faith.

The use of latest technology and steely spirits notwithstanding, the operation is headed nowhere. With Colombian families glued to television sets and the rescue mission widely covered on social media, it enthuses indigenous volunteers. The army and the indigenous group team up, putting their differences aside to bring the children back. It’s not a simple story of rescue. Unlike the Thai soccer team, there were no white saviours, but it was the coming together of the Colombians that led to the positive result.

The 2023 incident is still fresh in memory and it is known that the children miraculously survived the 40-day ordeal. But the wait for the 40th day puts one on the edge of the seat through the hour and 36 minutes’ documentary. What’s amazing is how most of the rescuers who show up on screen get a back story.

The first words of one of the boys post the rescue are: “Our mother died in the plane crash.” Lesly sharing how she at one point abandoned her siblings, and the role of the father during the operation and after it — it is all stranger than fiction.

Catholic and indigenous practices, all aimed at the safety and survival of the children, blend beautifully, almost giving a feel of magic realism, that by the way took root in Latin America.

Credit to Orlando von Einsiedel for not turning it into a sensational story, but instead putting Colombia on the world map — the rich culture, traditional wisdom, modern technology as well as socio-political issues plaguing the country. While one is happy for the children and their saviours, one’s heart goes out for rescue dog Wilson.

Real footage, archival shots and interviews, coupled with superb editing and enthralling music, bind this tale together. It’s hard to hold back tears when a uniformed rescuer talks of Colombia uniting, and animation pieces together what the children went through. Nothing brings people closer than shared suffering, it is said. ‘The Lost Children’ is a beautiful example of that.