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"Higson, Phil"
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WRITTEN pre-September 11, 2001, and originally set in New York City, it's curious that Ladder 49, essentially a tribute to the courage and dedication of urban firefighters, should have been relocated to Baltimore. Released to cinemas last year, the film may have served better as an ode to the fireys who died in the World Trade Centre disaster. That said, Ladder 49's story-line veers perilously close to mawkishness in its cinema verite portrayal of one man's journey through the ranks of the Baltimore City Fire Department, from rookie nozzle-man to search-and-rescue specialist. Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) fronts up at 7am on his first day at the station, every inch the raw probationary recruit as he meets his boss, Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), chugging raw spirits in his underwear. It's the first of several hazing stunts sprung on Morrison by his new colleagues, a predictable assortment of testosterone-fuelled, hard-drinking Irish and African-American fireys who live the cliche of killing time between alarm bells. It's when these go off that the film takes flight, revelling in its authentic depictions of what are, as the extra footage confirms, real fires (though most shots are set up on what close scrutiny of the credits reveals as a burn stage). Pyrotechnically, then, Ladder 49 delivers; artistically, however, it's like trying to start a fire with a wet match. Phoenix is his usual bewildered self, while Travolta flexes his three standard expressions (concerned, amused and bemused); it's left to Australian actor Jacinda Barrett (as Jack's stoic
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