On the 18th September 2012, saturation diver Chris Lemons became disconnected from the umbilical feeding him oxygen and warmth at the bottom of the North Sea. He was 90 metres below the surface, in pitch black visibility with a temperature of 4 degrees and only 5 minutes of oxygen. This documentary uses real footage and some excellent reconstruction footage to tell his story and those around him. 

Last Breath is fascinating. I had never heard of “saturation” diving before and had no concept of what lengths people had to go to to dive to the bottom of the North Sea. The profession appears to be both incredibly dangerous and a marvel of science and engineering. Those who choose to do it seem equally fascinating. Committing to live for 28 days at a time in a pressurised living quarters with just 2 other people for company where cameras keep tabs on your well being at all times must take certain character. Especially when that pressurised container they live in means they all speak with high pitched voices for the entire time. 

Chris Lemons fellow divers recount the story of that day. Duncan Allcock was the bellman, in charge of the two divers equipment. His recounting of the story is emotional. Dave Yuasa was the other diver, nicknamed “the Vulcan” because of how matter of fact and unemotional he is. Elsewhere we hear from Chris fiancée and the other key members of the ships crew. 

The documentary does a fantastic job of delivering lots of technical information in an interesting and understandable way and it does an exceptional job of meshing real footage with reconstruction efforts. But documentarians Richard da Costa and Alex Parkinson make one narrative decision that sullies the whole film. One that I can not tell you without it being a spoiler but one that when it happened took the sheen off the film quite significantly for me. 

Still a fascinating story worth watching despite that narrative choice though.