The Deepest Breath
Netflix | ★★★★✩

Blue Hole! Blue Hole!” Hearing these words has almost become a rite of passage for young Jews on Israel tour when they cross the border into Sinai to reach the coastal town of Dahab.

They refer to a sinkhole in the coral that descends more than 100 metres, and while it is a thing of beauty for snorkellers like myself, it is potentially deadly to divers.

The closest I got to The End was when my friend panicked and ate all his hashish at the return border.

But scared though we were that he’d be busted, I doubt the episode would make as enticing a documentary as Netflix’s The Deepest Breath. Its subject is the extreme sport of competitive freediving; descending to incredible depths on just two lungfuls of air.

The programme focuses on the story of Alessia Zecchini and Stephen Keenan. Through family video and photos and their respective fathers, we learn of these two lives and the circumstances that bought them together.

Alessia was on her diving path from a young age, eager to follow her idol the world champion Natalia Molchanova into the sport.

We see footage of a very driven pre-teen girl dominating the Italian competition, to the point where the rules were changed to exclude her until she was 18. In parallel, we follow
Stephen’s adventures and how he said goodbye to his hometown in Ireland to explore the wonders of the world.

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Deep connection: Stephen Keenan (left) and Alessia Zecchini (Photo: Netflix)

He settles in Dahab where, after breaking the Irish freediving record, he becomes a safety diver for competitions. Meticulous, brave and caring, Stephen is a proper mensch who makes a speedy impact in an environment where practitioners have a tendency to black out.

The sea itself is a character in itself here. As divers push themselves to ever greater feats, director Laura McGann captures the world beneath ours beautifully.

It helps the viewer understand why people are drawn to its danger, even if they don’t agree that people should put themselves in a position to sample it.

As the documentary moves towards its conclusion, there is a growing uneasiness.

After Alessia and Stephen finally meet there’s a sense that their previously implied relationship has possibly been over-egged, despite photographs suggesting physical intimacy in the days before Stephen helps Alessia match her idol Molchanova’s freedive of the Blue Hole arch.

But we have no idea where their relationship might have led, which doesn’t sit well with me. It feels manipulative.

Being wrong-footed in a work of fiction can be a nice surprise. But when the subject is real lives, it feels different.

And yet, as a worthy tribute, this programme stays afloat.