This is the shorter of the two featurettes on the DVD of Ladder 49, at a well-paced 13 and a half minutes. A tribute to firemen, it gives a brief peek into their lives, as delivered by interviews with them and their families(it was the right choice to barely even include John Travolta, and no one else from Hollywood).
They talk about the legacy of the job, the generational nature of it for many, the unpredictability, the long waits leading to practical jokes at each other's expense and yet they immediately abandon that when that alarm goes off, the experience of finding children inside the buildings and the amazing sense of fulfillment that it is to be able to rescue others.
This is what the film itself wanted to be, yet when they added production values(and thus increased their audience), all it led to was a two hour recruitment ad. What that meant to be, this is. Real, inspiring, beautiful(and not sappy or self-important) and haunting.
There is some disturbing content in this. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about firefighters. 8/10
They talk about the legacy of the job, the generational nature of it for many, the unpredictability, the long waits leading to practical jokes at each other's expense and yet they immediately abandon that when that alarm goes off, the experience of finding children inside the buildings and the amazing sense of fulfillment that it is to be able to rescue others.
This is what the film itself wanted to be, yet when they added production values(and thus increased their audience), all it led to was a two hour recruitment ad. What that meant to be, this is. Real, inspiring, beautiful(and not sappy or self-important) and haunting.
There is some disturbing content in this. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about firefighters. 8/10
