Stepping up when heat is on
ONLY THE BRAVE Starring: Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jeff Bridges Fighting fires is a team effort.
THE real-life Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of Arizona firefighters tasked with stemming the tide of wildfires in the state’s densely wooded forests, could not ask for a finer tribute than Only the Brave.
This intense and emotional factbased drama highlights the dangerous aspects of the job and the dedication and drive of the people who do it.
There are a few traces of the rah-rah ruggedness that tends to makes its way into a story like this, especially when telling tales of true-life heroism. But what shines through more than anything else is the low-key courage, commitment and camaraderie of the men and women portrayed.
And while it’s primarily a male story — the 20 members of the Hotshots crew are men — Only the Brave is clearly keen to show the effect the men’s work has on their home lives.
The loving relationship between team leader Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) and his strong-willed wife Amanda (Jennifer Connelly, fierce, tender and great) is depicted with a pleasing frankness and depth.
Marsh is an interesting character, the very definition of still waters running deep, and Brolin meets the challenge admirably, playing him as a tough but fair boss with a hot temper that can sometimes make him his own worst enemy.
But Marsh is not without sympathy or compassion, and it’s these qualities that lead him to take a chance on Brendan McDonough (Miles Teller, excellent), a drug-addled underachiever who realises he must clean up his act when he learns he’s about to become a father.
McDonough is a mess but he’s determined to turn his life around, something Marsh recognises and understands, and so the new recruit the firefighters nickname “Donut” begins the gruelling process of learning to combat forest fires.
It’s no easy task. The Hotshot method is to cut back trees, bushes and grass to deprive the fire of fuel, as well as setting their own controlled blazes that stop wildfires in their tracks — literally fighting fire with fire.
Naturally enough, the men who pursue such a line of work are pretty tough customers, and Only the Brave doesn’t shy away from showing their alpha-male side.
But they’re also comrades who’ll stand by one another no matter how dangerous the situation, whether it’s facing a fire or caring for a crying baby.
The movie spends a lot of time spotlighting this bond between the men (particularly the deep friendship that develops between Teller’s McDonough and Taylor Kitsch’s Mac), and not only does it provide great insight into the team dynamic, it heightens the stakes when things get serious.
And things do when the Granite Mountain Hotshots are called upon to battle a devastating fire in the heat of the 2013 summer.
It would, of course, be poor form to discuss it in any greater detail.
Suffice to say, director Joseph Kosinski and the uniformly solid cast (including Jeff Bridges, who quietly slips in some of the most affecting acting of the film) don’t shy away from the tougher aspects of the story, all while showing the story and its characters the utmost respect.