Review: Only The Brave đź‘Ť
Here comes another review of a movie we got to see in our local Sneak Preview and I am writing about Only The Brave [IMDb, Trailer (YouTube)].
First things first: If you don’t like spoilers, plan to watch this movie yourself and are not aware of true story behind it, stop reading now. I don’t know how to properly discuss it, without mentioning vital parts of the story.
Director Joseph Kosinski did not shoot a two hour piece of entertainment, but rather built an emotional memorial for the Granite Mountain Hotshots. I will not summarize the story here, because you can read all about it on Wikipedia or in thousands of articles all over the internet. Let me just say that the movie does not dive right into the action, but rather starts a few weeks earlier and takes time to introduce the characters, shows off the incredible landscape of Arizona and right from the start sets the calm and truthful tone that forms its backbone.
When I saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago, my mind immediately jumped to similar movies about real life tragedies (e.g. the upcoming Boston), which most often end up singling out one “hero” that guides the viewer through the story and is the focal point of exaggerated pathos. I am not a big fan of this, because I don’t see why something that actually happened in the real world has to be squished into a standard Hollywood thriller plot. This might sound too idealistic, but I believe that for movies like this filmmakers should decide to either shoot a crowd-pleasing “blockbuster” or focus on the truth and stick to it — never both.
So, when the movie started, I groaned internally, because I expected another movie I would have to put into this box. Two hours later this thought had completely escaped my mind, because Only The Brave is very different. It does not really single out one person, but shows the fire crew as a whole, every member a normal person like you or me. Although only glimpses of their individual lives are revealed, it drives the point home that they were real people, not one-dimensional characters in a fictional tale. Another aspect that contributes significantly to this sense of truthfulness is that the director and the writers were brave enough to portray them as less than perfect. For example, Christopher MacKenzie is introduced as a somewhat vulgar man that sleeps around a lot, but is totally accepted by his comrades and a vital part of the crew. It takes a lot of finesse to do this in a movie that ultimately is a memorial to these men. In my opinion they absolutely nailed it.
As I mentioned earlier, the movie has a quite distinct style that is defined by a very calm and non-sensationalized cinematography with long, uninterrupted shots and extended camera flights over the gorgeous landscape. This is enhanced by stimulating, but overall fairly unobtrusive music. When the fire crew is on the screen, they are either training somewhere in the woods or fighting fires out in the countryside. Interspersed among these are side-stories showing the lives of the firemen with their families or spouses and the activities within the community centered around the fire station. Both types of scenes have their own clearly identifiable style, of which language is a fairly significant part. While the exchanges between the crew members are often quite rough — especially during training or when they have time for banter — the tone used among their families is more tuned down.
One small point of criticism is necessary at this point, however: This is a movie about a crew of elite fire fighters and their life’s work. Although I absolutely love that it focuses heavily on the people and less on the action, I would have preferred a little more focus on the details of their job. There is a lot of fire fighting in this movie, but most of it comes without any explanation. This seems odd to me, especially because it would have been so easy to integrate. The crew has two newbies on board, who surely would have benefited from some explanations even more than the viewers. But overall this is really a tiny blemish on a movie that is otherwise really well done.
At the end of the movie I was emotionally shaken up. It is not a pleasant story to tell, but one that is worth telling. The fact that it hit me hard is a good sign, because it means that the movie is very well done. I am easily deterred by excessive glorification and Only the Brave simply does not do that. It commemorates and it praises, but it does not present the members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots as super-human “heroes”. Instead, it shows then as they really were: exceptionally brave and dedicated, but also just normal, mortal humans.
The state of Arizona decided to honor the fire man of the Hotshots with a memorial park. It consists of a hiking trail that roughly follows the last hours the crew marched and ends in the ditch where they were surrounded by fire and ultimately lost their lives. I can only imagine the emotions that rise up when one walks along this trail. In my mind, this movie is a cinematographic extension of this monument that carries the story beyond the borders of Arizona.
