Sauver ou périr

Pierre Niney is one of my favorite French actors at the moment. At age 21 he became the youngest resident actor ever at the Comedie Francaise. In the last few years he has captured the attention of cinema lovers and I found him superb in his roles in 'Frantz' and 'Promise at Dawn'. Seeing him in the lead role in 'Sauver ou perir' (or 'Through the Fire' as the English title goes) is the main reason I chose to see this movie, which otherwise is quite far from any of my favorite genres.

Undoubtedly, 'Sauver ou perir' starts from the best of intentions. It describes the life of the 'sapeurs-pompiers' (emergency teams providing medical and fire fighting services) in Paris in details that prove an excellent documentation. It has a declared patriotic and heroic flavor without making any excuse, and those who resonate at 'La Marseillese' have the opportunity to hear it a few times. When the main hero is hurt in a tragic accident, it brings on the screen an emotional story of the confrontation of a couple of young and beautiful people with an adverse destiny. Melodrama and rhetoric are not avoided.

Unfortunately, in cinematography, good intentions do not always result in good movies. Director Frédéric Tellier's film fails to overcome the level of a docudrama. What rescues it somewhat is Pierre Niney's acting, which pulls out everything he can get of the role ofs a young hero dedicated to his job, forced to face his own mortality, the physical limitations imposed by the accident, the crisis through which his marriage passes. Eventually, 'Sauver ou perir' confirmed both my fears and my expectations. It did not manage to overcome the limitations of the genre, but provided another excellent acting performance by Pierre Niney.

If the story depicted in "Through the Fire" was done before then I'm completely unaware. To me it feels completely untold yet it's something that while real as something that can (and might had) happened, it's one of those things most of us don't imagine or think about it. What happens when a man whose job is to save lives from danger and from harm ends up on the other side of the situation? How does one cope with so many difficulties and above all the idea of not being able to do what you always dreamt of doing and now has to be a patient soul who needs constant care?

Our hero in this journey is a hard-working fireman (Pierre Niney), at the top of his game after being recently promoted, who suffers an accident during a fire and now needs to go through a lenghty recovery process and find a new life meaning without the work that he loves. Beyond treating his extensive burns, he also needs some deep inner healing because depression and self-loathing hits him hard with his new condition, to the point he even doubts that his wife still loves him.

It is a quite sad story but never fully depressive neither falls for sentimentality. It's well told, balanced and gripping all the way and viewers immerse themselves in the story, the characters, the situations and the emotios. I was easily conquered with this one. And once again, a knockout performance by Pierre Niney who dedicated himself to such a physically demanding role - the first half hour is all about him being the great firefighter in action, the other half is all through great makeup effects of burns and his painful ordeals at the hospital. He was amazing all the way.

I'm not sure why the director decided to put a disclaimer at the beginning telling about this being a real story and later on at the final credits it's said that it was an original idea. No need for that, since one could easily imagine those things happening to firefighters because it happens, it's part of their jobs to take risks and accidents happen. It just leaves people curious in researching for the actual case when there was none told. But, all that matters is that he had a great story to tell and he told them in a very great manner. 10/10.

That's not really a movie about firemen, as were BACKDRAFT and LES HOMMES DU FEU, even if it tells the story of a fireman, an ambitious fireman who is suddenly victim, the casulaty of his own duty. It is rather a tale about love and heroisme; and not the kind of heroism, as you may expect to see, in the usual way I mean. It may be a drpressing movie, not for all audiences, but so moving, full of emotion, so deep, so poignant, so close to real life and human nature and behavior. As Mark Twain said: there are two days important in one's life: the day you are born and the day you find out why.

It is so refreshing to watch good movies like this one lately. No hidden agenda, no politics, just a heart-wrenching story well told and brilliantly interpreted. I learned about the fact it is based on a true story only after watching it, which makes it even more special. I highly recommend this movie.

A beautiful and heartbreaking (true) hero's journey of a Paris fireman, husband and dad. Pierre Niney is wonderful.