Only the Brave

Seen at the Sale Cinema in Gippsland, Victoria

Cecil says: This film felt all the more poignant because we are just moving into a fire-risk part of Australia, and as we drove through the bushy area near the NSW/Victoria border, we had passed through a hazy area which might have been cloud if it had not been for the stream of local fire service vehicles rushing in the opposite direction to us once we had driven through the area. And that slightly acrid smell that always comes with bush fires.

The next morning, the film felt even more relevant as the same fire trucks sped past us heading home after dealing with whatever fire there had been that day up in the hills in the rain.

The film itself was somewhat formulaic. You know the kind of disaster film where we spend two thirds of the story seeing all the minutiae of domestic life of very ordinary people, and there is that build-up to a situation where you know something dreadful is about to happen. There are the usual meaningful last words to people when they don’t know it’s the last words, but somehow the very fact that the film includes them shows that they will be the last…

But having said all that, the film was gripping, and actually very moving at the end, as you know the surviving firemen will be ridden with survivor guilt.

It was a good film to see as we move to an area where lives have been lost in the past and no doubt will be in future due to raging fires. Thoroughly enjoyable and a useful reminder of the fantastic work the fire service does.

***.5   

Bea says:  I had absolutely no expectation of this film whatsoever going in, and thought it would be some hero/action type genre.  I had no idea it was based on a true story and it moved me to tears.  I would highly recommend it; it was more personally relevant to us now than it would have been in previous years, but the story, writing, acting and direction are good, and the cinematography is very good.  Watch out for a brief appearance by Michelle Williams who seems to be popping up everywhere now if in small and rather typecast roles.

****