Trial by Fire

As a Firefighter for Region 5 for five years (1985-1990), this film was of interest to me as I have known female smoke jumpers.

After watching this film I saw only a few similarities to the reality of the job. 1. she was a female 2. they jump out of planes near fire inaccessible by foot. 3. there was fire

Apart from that most of the film was total rubbish The job is tremendously hard and no skinny woman like that would have been given a second look no matter how many members of family had been in the forest service. No how no way.

A smoke jumper would never EVER jump with winds that high, nor would an experienced firefighter try to run uphill from a fire, they ALL know it's pointless. And as for Brooke Burns climbing under a burning log well we were all crying with laughter as it was so unbelievably wrong.

Predictable plot but not bad: family drama in which two highly competitive sisters take different routes to their parents' attention. One is feminine and soft, the other a lean, mean, fighting machine (literally).

All the family infighting, and the fighter daughter's struggles to earn the respect of her fellow firefighters, rang mostly true if not breaking any new ground, although I did not find that character's physiology or physicality particularly convincing even when she was supposedly staggering along under huge loads during training. Her trainer's romantic overtures were predictable but not overdone.

Where the movie really fell apart was once the wildfire started. Not much passed the common sense smell test even if you know as little about the profession as I do. For our heroine to be the movie's biggest action hero required that a whole lot of characters with far greater expertise do incredibly stupid and unprofessional things to take themselves out of the running.

It might be the fault of the script focusing on triteness or a director addicted to dramatic overkill instead of coaxing the human truths out of the actors, but basically this was a potentially good story that overshot too many marks.

I am a pilot and believe airplanes were made to be flown and not jumped out of. That said, I salute those that are smokejumpers. I salute those that fight forest fires. As an American from Indiana, I never knew how severe such devastation could be until living in Salmon Arm, BC when in 1998 we were evacuated because of one. The first in Canadian history for mass evacuation.

Since then there have been may fires that have caught national attention.

So what if the plot was weak? So what if the woman had skinny legs? Sorry but I do not believe in that BS. If she can do the job, I'll root for her.

Oh by the way, when I was in Vietnam, the best man for the job in many cases was someone that wasn't all brawn.

And finally, having lived and traveled across British Columbia, it was great seeing the old places again.

To those of you who are firefighters who review this movie, don't you think we already understand that it isn't realistic?? It's called poetic license, and it's done all the time. I don't mean any disrespect to your profession and I greatly appreciate the expertise that it takes to do your job, but can't we just appreciate it for what it is, an entertaining movie??? I'm a nurse and a former scientist, but I don't bag all the movies where I see inconsistencies with reality, I just take it that the producers haven't had the years of education it takes to fully understand the job, and enjoy the film. Give the movie a break. If you take it for what it is, it's quite enjoyable.

Trial By Fire is not a perfect movie, nor does it try to be. The story may be unrealistic with a fair number of plot holes, the script may have its weak spots, the pace may be lagging and some of the character development may be lacking. Flaws aside, I didn't think it was that bad. The film is shot quite well, the soundtrack and sound give some atmosphere and the stunts are bold and daring. I love the titular character as well, I just love how tough and brave she is, and the acting while not award-worthy is reasonable with Brooke Burns doing a good job in the lead role. Overall, not great but I didn't think it was that bad either. 6/10 Bethany Cox