Only The Brave - story well told

I went out of respect. I didn’t watch the trailers, or read reviews. It didn’t matter to me whether the movie was a documentary or a drama or both. I knew some little bit of the story.

I also went to learn. Perhaps understanding the circumstances would somehow enhance my own knowledge. And perhaps I would come away with a better understanding of the human element that makes a hero.

Wild land firefighters are a special breed. I know them, and yet I don’t. Not at all. There is a strength of body and mind, yes, but there is something more. The risks they take are epic. The labor is intense. There is no amount of praise and recognition that can provide sufficient motivation to do what they do. They are driven by something more.

Ordinary young men and women. And yet not ordinary at all. They are made of stuff that is lacking in my constitution, and I know it.

Only The Brave is, in a word, beautiful. It surpassed my expectations from the opening scene.

It is a drama based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, whom you come to know individually and personally. You are soon a part of their community. You cannot fail to appreciate the love, the closeness, the bond of that community. And the real-life challenges of loving and living with a fire fighter.

The absolute authenticity exists in large part because the film’s creative supervisor knows the story intimately…indeed, as no other living person does. Brendan McDonough’s life was forever transformed as a Granite Mountain Hotshot. He pours heart and realism into the story. He lived every moment of it, and his impact on the final product is evident in every humorous, tense and revealing detail.

The soundtrack is powerful and brings you into the forest, into the fire, into the experience. It compliments the story. It engulfs the viewer. Sometimes in sounds you hope you never hear in your own lifetime.

Still in my seat, unflinching for the duration of the story which is told without a superfluous scene or word, I felt my stomach clench into a taut, anxious knot and my breath grow shallow toward its finale. The ending is the part of the story I thought I knew. Now I knew it intimately. Not as a stranger. No longer isolated from its impact.

The ending is difficult because it happened. In 2013, on the Yarnell Hill Fire, in Arizona. It was the largest loss of firefighter lives since September 11, 2001.

Only The Brave closes, beautifully, with images of the actors, and the real firefighters they portrayed. The casting of this drama is as closely pared to reality as a movie could be. The resemblance of the actors to the people whose lives they stepped into is uncanny. The acting is powerful, compelling and emotionally charged. The cinematography brings you uncomfortably close to fire, and directly into the world of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

I found myself watching the credits to the very end, although with my glasses off, unable to read them. I needed a few extra moments to compose myself.

Only The Brave is a story worth knowing, beautifully told, and worthy of a theatre experience.

Listen to an interview with sole survivor Brendan McDonough here:

https://soundcloud.com/docthompson/only-the-brave-w-brendan