SMT Weekly Flick by Paul Krismanits
Heated Subject
Kirk Cameron in Fireproof.
Fire Proof (Rated PG) 122 mins.
Five years ago Sherwood Pictures debuted with their first film Flywheel. While it was relatively unknown it signaled the beginning of a new breed of alternative filmmaking. Funded by the Sherwood Baptist Church of Albany, Georgia, Sherwood Pictures seeks to create quality family-friendly films, which are not just fun to watch, but full of positive messages. Flywheel was followed by Facing the Giants, a movie that received much more nationwide attention and showed that Sherwood actually had a big enough audience to continue making films. This Fall they released their latest offering called Fireproof, a movie that not only is making a respectable showing at the box-office, but is touching lives as well.
Where Flywheel tackled the issue of finding one’s identity through faith and Facing the Giants with miracles, Fireproof deals with a very pressing issue in our times; the issue of marriage, and how to sustain it. The movie opens with a very attractive couple, the Holts, getting in a spat that ends with the wife Catherine (newcomer Erin Bethea) telling her husband Caleb (Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains) that it is not working anymore and she wants out. After seven years of marriage they have drifted so far apart that she now wishes they had never married in the first place. More than anything, this comes as a surprise to Caleb, who, despite his own problems with the relationship, had been content to keep coasting along with it as is. This angers Caleb, who suppresses his failings by lashing out at Catherine. Choosing to avoid confronting the problems, he buries himself in his work as a fireman, something he excels at. It is not until talking to his father that he decides to give it one last shot, promising to go through with a 40-day challenge that had saved his parents’ marriage. However, time is against him as his wife is drawing farther away from him, and closer to an admirer from her own work at the hospital. As Caleb learns to truly love his wife for the first time, he must hope that it is not too little, too late.
If it sounds a little cheesy, that’s because in some ways it is. Fireproof is not the usual Hollywood-like escapist fantasy film. Instead of taking us away from real life, Fireproof throws life right at us, and asks us to think through our actions. With low production value and actors that are mostly members of Sherwood Baptist, there are times when Fireproof more closely resembles a bad soap opera than a feature film. Yet for every one of those times there are two more instances where the movie is very poignant, touching, and most of all, real. As we grow to know Catherine and Caleb, it is very hard not to care. The performances of Bethea and Cameron are real and heartfelt. Their relationship is enough to carry the film, and their story is one that has already touched many.
As a critic it is my job to tell the good and bad nuances of each film. That is my responsibility to my readers. As a film, production-wise Fireproof is not going to challenge anyone for the Oscars. Compared to the usual feature film it looks and sounds shoddy at times. But despite this, when one looks at what the film was made with, it actually comes away as impressive. There are a couple of wscenes involving Caleb’s rescue work that rival a good thriller, and there are parts between the couple as dramatic and touching as any movie I have ever seen.
More important than the film is its message. In a time where many will dive in and out of marriage without much thought, Fireproof reminds us that those vows are for life and should not be taken lightly. There are already many stories nationwide about this movie saving marriages, proving that sometimes a movie is more than just entertainment. Unfortunately it will have to wait for DVD for most to see it, but Fireproof is a film that should be viewed by anyone married or considering marriage, for it has a lot to offer anyone, regardless of whether or not they share the Christian faith the movie is centered around. In a day and age where so much is unstable, it is the institution of the family that will get us through. Fireproof is a movie that challenges us to hold sacred that most precious gift, for it can only benefit us all.
SCORE:4/5
