The Great Silence

Initially I was lured in by this 2020 movie's cover/poster. But turns out that it was actually the most interesting part about the entire movie, sad to say.

Right, well the storyline told in "Before the Fire" (aka "The Great Silence") from writer Jenna Lyng Adams and director Charlie Buhler wasn't a particularly outstanding or entertaining one. Sure, the movie was watchable, but watchable doesn't equal entertaining. I found the storyline told throughout the movie to be way too mundane and generic, if not downright bordering on being boring and pointless.

The acting in the movie was definitely adequate, although the actors and actresses had very solid material to work with in terms of a proper script and storyline. It was a shame though.

As the movie ended, I must admit that I was left with a feeling of being cheated out of something, as well as a sensation of 'was that really it?'. The movie just didn't feel wholehearted. Sure, the story came full circle at the end, but for me it was just a shallow movie experience.

I was expecting more contents with the encroaching virus, as branded in the movie's synopsis, but that was not to be. Sure, it was mentioned and it was there in the peripheral, but it never really played a bigger part in the storyline.

This movie was a swing and a miss, and while I managed to sit through the entire course of the movie, I can honestly say that this is not a movie that I will be viewing a second time. My rating of "Before the Fire" (or "The Great Silence") is a mere three out of ten. The movie was adequate in production value, but lacking in the entertainment department.

I was in the mood for a trashy post-apocalyptic story. Came across this, saw the low ratings and thought here is my guy. What I got instead was a tight and interesting character drama. Pleasantly surprising. It has many faults, sure. Directing and cinematography is good, acting ok, but the editor should maybe find another career. But again, watch it with an open mind and you won't be sorry. Quite enjoyable.

That I have to fast-forward through. This happens very rarely and I watch lots of films. During the quarantine, I've watched like 20 films and I just want to say I'm sorry since I just couldn't force myself to sit through this one.

It is in fact - boring and unengaging. After literally nothing interesting (besides setting up the premise) happened in the first 40 minutes I was just forced to fast forward through this one and believe me, I've seen a lot of slow films that work. Scenes are there for a reason, these have to establish something, characters, their relations, build up the atmosphere, you should avoid filler scenes in a film.

I don't want to go hard on the creators, but did no one really took a look at this film and say - this just can't work, it's too slow and we clearly have not enough material for a full feature?

The main lead is likable (although distractingly beautiful in a classic sense of the word), her character has an arc, the message in there, literally burning the bridges and killing the past, evolving.

Why not give the script some time and thought? Fill it with something interesting?

The virus has not spread there yet. We'll go there. We'll wait it out. And then as soon as it's over we will come right back home.

There's one admirable fact when it comes to the movie "Before the fire" and that's the prophetic nature of this movie. When the film was released in the UK and US, we were only at the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic as we know it today. Nobody thought that things would go so fast with only about a hundred infections in these countries at that time. Now 6 months later, we have millions of infections, and these countries are at the forefront when talking about the number of cases. Actually, this was the most terrifying part of the movie. The uncanny realism and the similarities with the current world we live in. The beginning of the film shows how panic slowly takes over a country. News reports that are gradually sounding more threatening. Supplies and resources are slowly depleted. Closed or jam-packed motorways. Airports where scheduled flights are canceled. And a lot of people who leave their possessions behind because they reside in a part of the country where a virus outbreak causes victims. To a greater extent, it's comparable to the situation at the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

Like everyone else, Ava Boone (Jenna Lyng Adams), a well-known TV actress, and her boyfriend Kelly Rhodes (Jackson Davis) are trying to get out of Los Angeles. Kelly manages to get a flight through an acquaintance who owed him. Only he manages cunningly to make sure that only Ava is on the plane so that she can sit out the epidemic in a safer place while he, as a journalist, handles an assignment to make a documentary about the pandemic. Ava's problem, however, is that she's returning to her hometown, which she left with Kelly for a variety of reasons years ago, and is forced to move in with the Rhodes family. Something she doesn't feel like doing because according to her the Rhodes family hates her. All in all, turns out it isn't so bad there. The relationship with her relatives, on the other hand, is a whole other thing. Needless to say, her relatives are the ones causing massive problems.

So "Before the Fire" isn't an apocalyptic film that focuses on the outbreak of a pandemic. Once Ava has settled with the Rhodes family and, to pass the time, lends them a helping hand at the farm, the film transforms from an SF/thriller to run-of-the-mill family drama. I believe that the label "Fiction" is outdated due to the current world situation. And you can't call it thrilling or exciting either. Even the amount of action is fairly limited. "Before the Fire" is more about opening old wounds from the past in a country where lawlessness reigns thanks to a chaotic health situation. The fear of coming into contact with infected people who ignore the quarantine measures is the only evidence that there's still global contamination happening. The fact that civilians are suddenly forming militias and taking justice into their own hands is a more dangerous situation for Ava. Why she had problems in the past with the Rhodes family and especially with her father, is nowhere explained. That's regrettable because that would make it all a bit more understandable.

Even though "Before the Fire" is a slow-burner and a not so very innovative film in terms of a storyline, it still managed to fascinate me in a certain way. Mainly because of the acting of Jenna Lyng Adams (who also wrote the script) and Charles Hubbell. Two extremely emotional roles. Especially the interaction between Ava and Max (Ryan Vigilant) is convincing and brings out the positivity in a life-threatening situation. Ava's father, on the other hand, is the personification of how such situations can bring out the bad in a person (or justify it). No, you can't call this film bad. Only the movie poster could put you on the wrong track. Many will be disappointed because their expectations are not being fulfilled. Don't expect a "Contagion" kind of movie. No way. In "Before the Fire" the epidemiological aspect shifts to the background and makes way for a family survival drama. Slanderers might even say that the part about a virus outbreak was added afterward to give it a more contemporary and current feeling. I wouldn't dare to say that though.

This could have been excellent. Decent performance by female lead, but like many modern TV shows, the movie is simply all about stupid people making stupid decisions at every turn. These people deserved everything that came their way, as they had the collective intelligence of a baked bean.

And another thing: Fighter jets don't fly low over empty farm land in a pandemic! Waste of gas. Huge chance of crashing. Jets fly high, producers, for many good reasons...

Ultimately, this flick was a waste of a decent premise. It's billed as a sci-fi flick, but it's not.

You have been warned.