A surprising gut punch of a documentary that is as tense as a thriller and an emotional tribute to volunteers.

I felt the same about Strong Female Lead as I do about this powerful documentary by Eddie Martin about the Black Summer bush fires that devastated Australia over the summer of 2019. You might have seen an event through the media and feel you know all the important facts but there is something compelling about watching a retelling that lays it all out chronologically and overlaid with the context of the time. Add to this first hand footage taken by volunteer firefighters and people facing down the fires in their homes and you get an unprecedented look at the horror and heartbreak of such devastation.

There is no narration, just news footage, people talking to camera and black screens with markers for the number of days the fires have been raging and locations. Weaving through is footage of then Prime Minster Scott Morrison’s actions and inactions, including his holiday to Hawaii, his promise of a two billion dollar relief fund that has never materialised and the people in Cobargo who wouldn’t shake his hand.

Most affectingly is the focus on the volunteer firefighters who are so obviously exhausted, their tears as they talk about having to keep going, missing Christmas Day with their children or mourning the death of their friends. Watching Rural Fire Service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, choke back tears as he reports the death of a RFS volunteer near Albury whose wife was expecting their first child the next May says so much about the stoicism that underpins the immense effort being expended and the immeasurable cost.

There is some comment about climate change but a clear message is that government isn’t acting on warnings from experts that fire conditions are becoming catastrophic and the ones who suffer are individuals and communities. What comes across strongly is the value of volunteers fighting the fires – some who had no income for months, some who traveled from New Zealand and the US, one who helped save a house while his own burned – and those who helped with aid afterwards. It makes you proud to be a part of a community.

---

Have you seen this film? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.