Movies

Unbreakable bond

�Ladder 49� explores the heroic strength of firefighters

Photographs courtesy of Buena Vista

Did You Know  : The original script called for Ladder 49 to be set in New York. The script was changed following the 9/11 terror attacks.

What does it take to be the man who runs headlong into a burning building when everyone else is trying to get out? Ladder 49 is a moving look at how extraordinary heroes emerge out of ordinary lives, relationships and dreams.

Set against a busy Baltimore engine company, the film peers into the private world of a typical urban firehouse and exposes the often hidden human element that lies behind the familiar headlines of firefighters battling furious blazes. It does so by probing one emblematic fireman�s story.

SWALLOWED ALIVE

Ladder 49 enters of the life of devoted firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) as it hangs in the balance. In his zeal to help rescue a trapped civilian, Jack has been swallowed deep inside a warehouse now transformed into a furnace of snarling flames, impenetrable black smoke and collapsing debris.

Cut off from all help, Jack fights for survival, while outside his mentor and fire chief, Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), battles to get his best friend out alive. As the two men make a desperate last move, Jack reflects, moment by moment, year by year, on how he got himself into this predicament.

BAND OF BROTHERS

Starting with the day he first met then-Captain Kennedy and joined the Baltimore Fire Department, Jack journeys back in time to reveal a gripping account of a hero-in-the-making. He recalls his initiation into the close-knit, prank-filled, courage-fed band of brothers at the firehouse and the discovery of his own deeply held compulsion to save lives.

But beyond the thrills and excitement of fighting fires, also lies something else: the powerful bonds of friendship with his fellow firefighter Tommy Drake (Morris Chestnut) and the enduring romance that he has fought to keep alive with his equally strong wife Linda (Jacinda Barrett).

Pushed to the limits of loyalty and courage, Jack holds tight to indelible memories as he waits for his own rescue.

Catch Ladder 49 in theatres from November 18.

Vocabulary

headlong (adv): without thinking carefully before doing something
emblematic (adj): that represents or is a symbol of something
zeal (n): great energy or enthusiasm connected with something that you feel strongly about
furnace (n): an enclosed space or room for heating metal or glass to very high temperatures
indelible (adj): impossible to forget or remove