- Welcome to Independent Lens .
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of Wisconsin Public Television's
Director's Cut .
Tonight, we bring you Young Men and Fire ,
a documentary described as literary in style
and epic in scope
thanks to almost unparalleled vérité.
Young Men and Fire tells the story of a group of men
who every year come together
to battle raging fires in the American West.
In very few job descriptions does it say,
"Long hours of hard labor
punctuated by moments of sheer terror"
but it describes the job of the characters in this film
perfectly.
The crew consists of a rag tag team of tough luck characters:
Bible college dropouts,
recovering drug addicts,
those who've had run-ins with the law,
mixed in with a few pure adventure seekers.
These young men come together to battle a beast
that rages more powerfully than their own personal demons
as they are pushed to their mental and physical limits.
Co-directors Alex Joblonski and Kahlil Hudson
have collaborated once before.
In this documentary, these two filmmakers
inadvertently became wildland firefighters,
as they thrust themselves into this world
and get a first-hand look
at what their characters face every day.
The footage is incredible, but equally as engaging to viewers
are the stories and personal struggles of the firefighters.
I'm pretty sure that when they were young,
none of them aspired to work long hours
in extreme heat and punishing physical labor
while fighting for their lives.
But each of them
are pushed to become a force greater than themselves
to battle one of nature's most unforgiving elements.
Young Men and Fire starts now on Wisconsin Public Television,
your home for independent film.