Hotshot

This is the definitive film on wildland fire.

If you're a wildland firefighter you will find yourself emotional at experiencing your work and culture finally shown with fidelity and affection.

If you're not a firefighter, you will see: 1) Incredible cinematography of the remarkable natural phenomenon of extreme fire behavior.

2) A heartfelt personal story of a filmmaker's relationship with an extraordinary firefighter and his improbable subsequent journey into filming the elusive and misunderstood world of wildfire and hotshot culture.

3) Important and moving elements of documentary filmmaking that properly situates the subject matter (Interagency Hotshot Crews) in time and history and sociopolitical context, and profound wisdom applicable to wildfire and far beyond.

What a tremendous undertaking: to film what was filmed, over 6 years; then to carefully and truthfully build context around that footage.

I believe this will be an important film right now, as numerous issues are addressed, and for generations to come, as fire itself and firefighting itself both contain timeless elements inexorably tied to physics, nature, and human nature...and as a timepiece marking this era of fire as the other constantly-evolving elements of wildfire develop and change.

This is *the* definitive wildland fire film.

This is not a traditional documentary. It flows like a movie, LOOKS like a big tentpole narrative feature. The cinematography is spectacular, and the obvious theme here is "show, don't tell", as there's no time spent on talking heads, no interviews, nobody tells you what a fire tornado looks like, they go in and show you.

The pacing is very unique, and there is a lot of contrast to what can sometimes be truly horrifying and devastating imagery. But it's all presented in a very poetic, sometimes hilarious way. A genuine tribute to the roughnecks who do the insane work of putting out wildfires by hand.

Absolutely worth your time. A haunting, thought-provoking picture that you have to see several times to unpack fully.

I am a avid documentary watcher and love the art of filmmaking. I have no training or excellence in the field other than my own thoughts and novice reads. This doc is one of the best that I have ever seen! As a former wartime Marine, I love to see docs in the realm of events that I have participated in and been through and this is right up there with WAR. I gripped a towel the entire time I watched because I am so high strung and was loving every minute of what I was watching. The educational value and what could be learned by watching this film is worthy of a rent/buy. I'm not sure what the correct words are for it, but the 'scenery' and 'fill' scenes are unbelievable to see and make you appreciate this world we live in. I think this doc is right up there with the likes of 'Free Solo' and other Academy award winners...it definitely has my vote. ***I purchased this doc strictly off the trailer and my love for Hotshots, Firefighters, etc.

"Behind the scenes" is an understatement. You'll see the good, the bad, the ugly, and more truth bombs are dropped than you'll be able to process. Unlike most documentaries, this film doesn't need to make anyone look good, the content itself is so powerful the major points to the story are apparent for all to see.

Yes, you'll get a glimpse the film's character's personal lives, but you'll also get a mid level view, then a bird's eye view of the fire problem sweeping across the western U. S. More than any of that, you'll see some of the best video of fire behavior anywhere. The footage is not like other video you've seen, it was only captured because the film's creator spent years imbedded with the crew to see the fire world through their eyes.

Told with a thoughtful but honest narrative. You just get the sense this was a labor of love in more ways than one. It draws you in and makes you feel the dedication and sacrifice of these "forest technicians". They are truly our superheroes of the forests who deserve our deepest gratitude.

This is some of the best cinematography I've ever seen of a world I knew very little about. The footage was stunning. Artfully captured the filmmaker made fire look like a dance that captivated your attention at every moment. I remember the movie Backdraft by Ron Howard and how he captured the fire and made it seem alive. It was the first time any film had done that. This is Backdraft 2.0, but real life. Bravo!