Ladder 49 is the Most Obscene Movie to Cross the Silver Screen

Shortly after the events of 9/11 there was growing concern that Hollywood might exploit strong sentiments over the sensitive situation in order to turn a quick profit. Fortunately, movies such as Flight 93, covering the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field, were well done and appeared to be fairly realistic at documenting the events of that horrible day. However, a few years later Ladder 49 comes along apparently hoping to capture the peak of enamoration with heroic firefighters. The movie is not particularly about 9/11 or terrorism but instead features a number of fabricated and overly dramatic burning buildings that need the rescue of a team of well-to-do firemen. The film goes out of its way to show how great these firefighters are, they throw elaborate birthday parties for each other's children and spend spare time pulling friendly pranks on each other. This only serves to undercut the film by cartooning real firefighters who have a very real job.

The movie is seen through a series of flashbacks as Joaquin Phoenix lies trapped in a burning building. We see Phoenix predictably go from a single, young firefighter to having a new wife and two innocent little children. The wife consequently pushes her new husband towards a desk job, all of which obviously sets up a maudlin ending complete with Irish flutes and bagpipes. Let's not forget constant slow motion and shots of a wavering American flag.

Ultimately, this movie is similar to World War II propaganda. It does all it can to promote the heroism of America's firefighters and plainly attempts to invoke the basic emotions of happiness and sadness. It all comes across as horribly obscene due to the contrived nature of the supposed character development and the obvious attempts to stir up authentic emotions from 9/11. This is Hollywood exploitation at its most grotesque. I gave this movie a fair chance despite it receiving bad reviews and was horrendously disappointed. So much so, that 5 years later it resonates as the single most obscene movie I have ever come across.