A FIRE INSIDE
****
Directors: Justin Krook and Luke Mazzaferro
Screenwriters: Justin Krook, Luke Mazzaferro and Nick Worthington
Principal cast:
Shane Fitzsimmons
Nathan Barnden
John Brogden
Brendon O’Connor
Petrea King
Paula Zaja
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 91 mins.
Australian release date: 7 October 2021. Also screening at the Sydney Film Festival 2021.
A Fire Inside is a confronting yet inspirational documentary that looks back at the catastrophic 2019/20 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires in the Southern Highlands and Bega Valley regions of eastern Australia and examines their effects. Opening with a series of dramatic still shots, which place the audience in the frontlines of the action, the film immediately draws viewers deep into the heart of the affected regions. The devastation destroyed large areas of land, thousands of peoples’ homes and livelihoods and wiped out bird, animal and insect life by the million. The film, though, is no mere record of the destruction caused – it takes a close look at the people who responded to the crisis and the impact it had on them. It is about the many volunteers involved, the people who “hold a hose” and those who support them in any way they can.
The directors of A Fire Inside, Justin Krook and Luke Mazzaferro, have wisely allowed their interview subjects to speak for themselves, without the intervention of narration or added commentary, and the documentary is all the more powerful for it. We hear from experts in their fields, people like Shane Fitzsimmons, the then Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, and mental health professionals, such as John Brogden of Lifeline and Petrea King from Quest for Life, but it is the testimonies of so-called ‘ordinary people’ that are the most moving. These are the volunteers who risked their lives to save their communities, returning again and again into the flames, heat and smoke, and sometimes losing their own homes and possessions while busy saving those of their neighbours. We learn that, not surprisingly, these extraordinary acts of everyday courage took a heavy toll on the firefighters’ mental health, a toll that only revealed itself many months after the events. This impact is the main focus of A Fire Inside, although it also touches on other aspects of bushfires and fire control, like the effect of climate change, how back-burning works and whether ‘cool’ burning, as practised by the land’s original inhabitants, would be more efficient.
Despite dealing with such a serious subject, it has to be said that the documentary is seriously good-looking. The footage of the fires is highly dramatic and the drama has been enhanced by the use of super slo-mo, with the action slowed down to the point where motion is almost imperceptible. It’s a stunning effect. Scott Walmsley’s editing stitches the production together very well and Matt Zingales’ score adds tension and release where it’s needed. A Fire Inside is a fitting record of not just the incredible physical damage caused by the ‘Black Summer’ fires (3,000 homes destroyed and 18 million hectares of land burnt over 200 consecutive days), but also a record of the mental damage caused in the towns and villages they scarred. Ominously, the film leaves you with a strong sense that the worst is yet to come. As one of the speakers says, “Whatever we’ve seen to date, this is just the start of it.”
Screenwriters: Justin Krook, Luke Mazzaferro and Nick Worthington
Principal cast:
Shane Fitzsimmons
Nathan Barnden
John Brogden
Brendon O’Connor
Petrea King
Paula Zaja
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 91 mins.
Australian release date: 7 October 2021. Also screening at the Sydney Film Festival 2021.
A Fire Inside is a confronting yet inspirational documentary that looks back at the catastrophic 2019/20 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires in the Southern Highlands and Bega Valley regions of eastern Australia and examines their effects. Opening with a series of dramatic still shots, which place the audience in the frontlines of the action, the film immediately draws viewers deep into the heart of the affected regions. The devastation destroyed large areas of land, thousands of peoples’ homes and livelihoods and wiped out bird, animal and insect life by the million. The film, though, is no mere record of the destruction caused – it takes a close look at the people who responded to the crisis and the impact it had on them. It is about the many volunteers involved, the people who “hold a hose” and those who support them in any way they can.
The directors of A Fire Inside, Justin Krook and Luke Mazzaferro, have wisely allowed their interview subjects to speak for themselves, without the intervention of narration or added commentary, and the documentary is all the more powerful for it. We hear from experts in their fields, people like Shane Fitzsimmons, the then Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, and mental health professionals, such as John Brogden of Lifeline and Petrea King from Quest for Life, but it is the testimonies of so-called ‘ordinary people’ that are the most moving. These are the volunteers who risked their lives to save their communities, returning again and again into the flames, heat and smoke, and sometimes losing their own homes and possessions while busy saving those of their neighbours. We learn that, not surprisingly, these extraordinary acts of everyday courage took a heavy toll on the firefighters’ mental health, a toll that only revealed itself many months after the events. This impact is the main focus of A Fire Inside, although it also touches on other aspects of bushfires and fire control, like the effect of climate change, how back-burning works and whether ‘cool’ burning, as practised by the land’s original inhabitants, would be more efficient.
Despite dealing with such a serious subject, it has to be said that the documentary is seriously good-looking. The footage of the fires is highly dramatic and the drama has been enhanced by the use of super slo-mo, with the action slowed down to the point where motion is almost imperceptible. It’s a stunning effect. Scott Walmsley’s editing stitches the production together very well and Matt Zingales’ score adds tension and release where it’s needed. A Fire Inside is a fitting record of not just the incredible physical damage caused by the ‘Black Summer’ fires (3,000 homes destroyed and 18 million hectares of land burnt over 200 consecutive days), but also a record of the mental damage caused in the towns and villages they scarred. Ominously, the film leaves you with a strong sense that the worst is yet to come. As one of the speakers says, “Whatever we’ve seen to date, this is just the start of it.”
