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26th July 2023
10:11am BST
A new Netflix documentary is making waves (sorry) for its unflinching portrayal of an extreme sport most people haven't heard of.
The sport in question? Free diving. The documentary? The Deepest Breath.
The film has rocketed up Netflix's Top 10 since it dropped on the streaming platform last week, and follows two free divers Alessia Zecchini and Stephen Keenan as they forge a partnership to smash world records.
The sport basically involves holding your breath and diving as deep in the sea as you can possibly go with no breathing apparatus to help you. Understandably, this is incredibly dangerous and the elite of the sport are at the forefront of what human's are capable of.
Zecchini, from Italy, is regarded as one of the best to ever enter the sport, and holds multiple records.
In the movie, Keenan joins Zecchini's team as a safety diver, who monitor and assist the divers if they ever black out while under the surface (a remarkably common occurrence).
Alongside their world record depth attempts, the film focuses on Zecchini's attempt to best the legendary Blue Hole dive in Dahab, Egypt. This feat involves diving 55 metres below sea level before swimming 26 metres and then back up again.
It is widely regarded as a more deadly than climbing Everest, and the documentary takes you on every step of the journey, to breathtaking effect.
Many online are commenting they find themselves holding their breath while watching the Netflix film, and others are completely unable to breath from the tension.
The tension was reportedly something the director wanted to portray in the film, telling Tudum: "You hear your own heartbeat. Everything slows as you conserve oxygen in your body. We wanted to represent that."
The Deepest Breath is available on Netflix now.
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