The extraordinary rescue operation to free 33 trapped Chilean miners is over, to scenes of much rejoicing. The images of the Phoenix escape capsule, as it was repeatedly gobbled up by the earth and spat out 700 metres above, disgorging its precious human cargo, were fascinating and I snatched several glimpses during the day (the whole operation was broadcast live on the BBC’s website). I await with impatience the film that will surely be made of the whole affair. Nothing needs to be invented. The desperate search for work that brought many of the men to the mine in the middle of a desert. The miners’ fears about the ‘weeping’ walls. The collapse itself. The survivors’ seventeen grim days alone with limited rations and a solemn conviction that they were going to die. The rescuers’ determined efforts. The discovery. The drilling and all of the technical challenges. The first communications. The colourful characters and leadership  – not least of Luis Urzua, ‘Don Lucho’, the shift manager – above and below ground. Camp Hope. The media scrum. The mounting patriotism. The breakthrough with the rescue tunnel. The rescue itself. The wit and wisdom of the emerging survivors and their very different reactions. And I will happily pay to see this film, safe in the knowledge that during their record-breaking imprisonment so deep in the ground, the thirty-three men already agreed that they would share all proceeds from their experience equally.