Only the Brave

Only the Brave (2017) is about a wildland firefighting crew in Arizona. The Granite Mountain Hotshots worked for a municipality and were fighting to obtain federal certification; without it they could not work the front line of a fire. The first half is that fight. The second half is the Yarnell Hill fire of 30 June 2013. Twenty of the crew's twenty six members died that day; the sole survivor was the man serving as lookout elsewhere. It was among the heaviest losses in the history of American firefighting. Joseph Kosinski directed. Josh Brolin plays the superintendent, Miles Teller a new recruit, Jeff Bridges an older fire chief and Jennifer Connelly the superintendent's wife. Its best quality is explaining the work. Controlled burns, cutting fire line, the wind turning, and the shelter of last resort are all laid out inside the film, so that the audience understands what is happening in the final sequence. The fire scenes were shot largely with real flame. It runs 133 minutes. Good for: adaptations of true events, films about a profession, and group portraits. Less good for: the first half is long and the domestic subplots slow it down. If you know the outcome, tension gives way to waiting. The women are largely cast as worried wives.