What matters more to him: the gratification he feels being part of a brotherhood, or being around to watch his baby daughter grow up? When he becomes a father he is forced to question his priorities. Brolin gives a chance to a young screw-up, well played by Miles Teller, who finds purpose and self-worth by making the grade with his fellow hotshots. Their chief, or “supe,” is played by Brolin, a single-minded man whose relationship with his partner, Jennifer Connelly, is built on mutual respect… but suffers, as their colleagues’ do, from the stress of being called away for long periods to fight fires across the country.

These Arizonans proved their mettle to their superiors and their community. Only the Brave tells the story of the first civic group to earn national certification and recognition.

A change of wind or faulty communications can eradicate all the good they have done. Their efforts depend on rugged manpower, teamwork, sacrifice, and that most elusive ingredient, luck. These Arizona firefighters strove to be certified as “hot shots,” an elite core of firefighters who don’t face fires with hoses but use strategy (and backbreaking effort) to create ditches and backburns to defeat raging wildfires from spreading. You will learn, as I did, exactly what this close-knit group accomplished in their brief time together. And I can’t think of another actor who could have played the leading role better than Josh Brolin. As director Joseph Kosinski told my class at USC, “I wanted to focus on how they lived, not how they died.” True to his word, he and his team have crafted a film that is genuinely uplifting. What I didn’t expect was a film that would make me care so deeply about its heroes, the members of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots. I wasn’t anxious to see Only the Brave, as I knew it would be upsetting.

The young and the brave movie