TV decision-makers have developed such a low opinion regarding the viewer's intelligence that even the well-meaning and insightful reality "immersion" programs (24 hours in the hospital, police, fire brigades or airport custom services) must rely on fast-paced editing, on-the-nose voice-over or intrusive background music to overemphasize the heroism of their subjects.
One can easily diagnose it as TV symptomatic mimicry of cinema driven by an unfair assumption about reality's appeal (or lack thereof). Just as if the camera wasn't effective enough a window on the real, producers need to make their docs as thrilling, suspenseful, emotionally engaging and ultimately as entertaining as movies or series... and that's why today, documentaries show and tell, tell what to know and how to feel; that should be useful for National Geographic but when It deals with humans, what these programs show should be telling enough.
"Fires Were Started" is such a program.
The documentary (or film shot documentary-style) was released in 1943 and consists on a day's work in a firemen unit at the height of the Blitz, from the phone operators to the dispatching and logistics. The closest to a 'central' protagonist is a rookie, a young volunteer named Barrett. Before we get to the action, in intimate scenes shot in studios, we see firemen as relatable average Joes, enjoying leisure time, drinking tea, playing ping pong, snooker, having fun with an improvised piano session with the "Mow Meadow" song that sets the well-times mood whiplash occurring shortly before the end of the first half.
Indeed, when the alarm rings and a building neighboring the London harbor is under the flames, we're taken to the second half that has nothing to envy from the punchiest reality program. Naturally the film is closer in spirit with movies like "Battle of Algiers" (with a naturalistic approach that could have inspired Altman and oddly enough, I even thought of "Car Wash"). It's interesting that it used real firemen (quite good actors) and reconstructions over already destroyed buildings instead of simply shooting the real thing, the result is a successful "entertainazation" of reality and without the constant reliance on these hyperbolic effects (narration, voice over, etc.) music is sporadically used, there's no flooding of emotions (Spielberg should take notes) and that the film ends up affecting you with its poignancy says a lot about the storytelling talent of Humphrey Jennings.
Jennings doesn't go for effects, he lets the camera rolls at every department and inflicts us many unglamorous sequences about fire hydrants, assignments and the same order being repeated five times, we're not supposed to get everything, except the essential: efficiency-driven processes, organization, and men and women working together. Once we gather that, we get to a lengthy leisure sequence culminating with "Mow at Meadow" song and I could see why director Lindsay Anderson called Jennings a poet. Anyone can make a 'propaganda' film showing brave firemen defeating fire, climbing unsteady ladders, under the pressure of backdrafts or lack of water pressure, watching their comrades hurt or dying but it takes a certain coolness to show these men having fun and enjoying their time before the call of duty, highlighting their humanity before their vulnerability.
Jennings is a poet of the everyday folks showing us that heroes are nothing but ordinary guys, jeopardizing their life for principles, but not acting like holy sacrificial lambs. And once again, British cinema prove its capability to display the upper lip spirit less through the characters' bravery or courage but their stoic attitude under the fire. Although I doubt everyone would have stayed that cool under German bombings (some smiles might strike as a tad unrealistic given the film's context).
There's one image that speaks a thousand words though, when Barrett finds the crushed and burnt helmet of a partner in the ruins and that image symbolizes the ultimate bravery of men whose job consists as facing the very fire and ashes Winston had promised. It's a sad irony that Jennings died in 1950 after an accident while looking for locations as if embodied the very courage he showed in his film. "Fires Were Started" is a rather minor propaganda film but I mean it as a compliment, it's a great tribute to men who fought the big fight and to a director who could have given a little more and who certainly inspired the New British Wave of he 1960s with Anderson, Reisz, Schlesinger.
So, don't let its short runtime and lack of juicy casting fool you, if you admire firemen and their heroic sacrifices all through history, this is a film you can't refuse.
One can easily diagnose it as TV symptomatic mimicry of cinema driven by an unfair assumption about reality's appeal (or lack thereof). Just as if the camera wasn't effective enough a window on the real, producers need to make their docs as thrilling, suspenseful, emotionally engaging and ultimately as entertaining as movies or series... and that's why today, documentaries show and tell, tell what to know and how to feel; that should be useful for National Geographic but when It deals with humans, what these programs show should be telling enough.
"Fires Were Started" is such a program.
The documentary (or film shot documentary-style) was released in 1943 and consists on a day's work in a firemen unit at the height of the Blitz, from the phone operators to the dispatching and logistics. The closest to a 'central' protagonist is a rookie, a young volunteer named Barrett. Before we get to the action, in intimate scenes shot in studios, we see firemen as relatable average Joes, enjoying leisure time, drinking tea, playing ping pong, snooker, having fun with an improvised piano session with the "Mow Meadow" song that sets the well-times mood whiplash occurring shortly before the end of the first half.
Indeed, when the alarm rings and a building neighboring the London harbor is under the flames, we're taken to the second half that has nothing to envy from the punchiest reality program. Naturally the film is closer in spirit with movies like "Battle of Algiers" (with a naturalistic approach that could have inspired Altman and oddly enough, I even thought of "Car Wash"). It's interesting that it used real firemen (quite good actors) and reconstructions over already destroyed buildings instead of simply shooting the real thing, the result is a successful "entertainazation" of reality and without the constant reliance on these hyperbolic effects (narration, voice over, etc.) music is sporadically used, there's no flooding of emotions (Spielberg should take notes) and that the film ends up affecting you with its poignancy says a lot about the storytelling talent of Humphrey Jennings.
Jennings doesn't go for effects, he lets the camera rolls at every department and inflicts us many unglamorous sequences about fire hydrants, assignments and the same order being repeated five times, we're not supposed to get everything, except the essential: efficiency-driven processes, organization, and men and women working together. Once we gather that, we get to a lengthy leisure sequence culminating with "Mow at Meadow" song and I could see why director Lindsay Anderson called Jennings a poet. Anyone can make a 'propaganda' film showing brave firemen defeating fire, climbing unsteady ladders, under the pressure of backdrafts or lack of water pressure, watching their comrades hurt or dying but it takes a certain coolness to show these men having fun and enjoying their time before the call of duty, highlighting their humanity before their vulnerability.
Jennings is a poet of the everyday folks showing us that heroes are nothing but ordinary guys, jeopardizing their life for principles, but not acting like holy sacrificial lambs. And once again, British cinema prove its capability to display the upper lip spirit less through the characters' bravery or courage but their stoic attitude under the fire. Although I doubt everyone would have stayed that cool under German bombings (some smiles might strike as a tad unrealistic given the film's context).
There's one image that speaks a thousand words though, when Barrett finds the crushed and burnt helmet of a partner in the ruins and that image symbolizes the ultimate bravery of men whose job consists as facing the very fire and ashes Winston had promised. It's a sad irony that Jennings died in 1950 after an accident while looking for locations as if embodied the very courage he showed in his film. "Fires Were Started" is a rather minor propaganda film but I mean it as a compliment, it's a great tribute to men who fought the big fight and to a director who could have given a little more and who certainly inspired the New British Wave of he 1960s with Anderson, Reisz, Schlesinger.
So, don't let its short runtime and lack of juicy casting fool you, if you admire firemen and their heroic sacrifices all through history, this is a film you can't refuse.