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Fires Were Started aka I Was a Fireman (Humphrey Jennings, 1943) +
Thinking about this film a bit more and the rating I give it, I get the feeling that I'm either very closed-minded, mean or just too damn hesitant to award things which are "too-different" no matter how well-done they are. Fires Were Started is a stirring and almost beautiful celebration of firefighters in England during WWII who had to fight fires caused by German bombing on a daily basis at the height of the war. Director Jennings and his crew capture them in the midst of glory and tragedy and show that the War at Home had a much bigger effect on the people in Great Britain (and Europe for that matter) than it did for us here in the U.S. mainland. Much of the footage is neorealist in nature but even more so borders on impressionistic poetry the way the image is captured, edited together and put to music. So why would I give this film only a borderline recommendation? Maybe I'm certifiable but even too much of a good thing can seem like overkill. I cannot exactly tell you what I'd excise, but it did seem a bit too long, especially compared to all the other, shorter films I watched on the same DVD. On the other hand, if I lived in England, I'd probably shoot the rating up at least one more popcorn box and maybe even more so if I started feeling nostalgic.
Thinking about this film a bit more and the rating I give it, I get the feeling that I'm either very closed-minded, mean or just too damn hesitant to award things which are "too-different" no matter how well-done they are. Fires Were Started is a stirring and almost beautiful celebration of firefighters in England during WWII who had to fight fires caused by German bombing on a daily basis at the height of the war. Director Jennings and his crew capture them in the midst of glory and tragedy and show that the War at Home had a much bigger effect on the people in Great Britain (and Europe for that matter) than it did for us here in the U.S. mainland. Much of the footage is neorealist in nature but even more so borders on impressionistic poetry the way the image is captured, edited together and put to music. So why would I give this film only a borderline recommendation? Maybe I'm certifiable but even too much of a good thing can seem like overkill. I cannot exactly tell you what I'd excise, but it did seem a bit too long, especially compared to all the other, shorter films I watched on the same DVD. On the other hand, if I lived in England, I'd probably shoot the rating up at least one more popcorn box and maybe even more so if I started feeling nostalgic.