1992
7/10
DIRECTOR: David Douglas
The Fires Of Kuwait burned for months after the First Gulf War. Imax, still a new format was on hand to capture the efforts made by some brave men and women, and some engineering innovations, to extinguish this devastating legacy of Saddam’s foiled invasion of Kuwait.
This epic sized Imax documentary provides an interesting insight into the methods and mentalities of those who braved oil fumes and intense heat as they battled to bring these oil fires under control. The 36 minute documentary is narrated by the distinctive tones of Rip Torn but most of it is visual and aided more by the roaring, monstrous Imax sound scheme, rather than the dialogue.
It is interesting, dramatic and somewhat insightful but at such a running time, there’s little space for detail and most of the narrative is taken up with simply demonstrating the fires extinction. I find it to be a worth while documentary, great for the big screen, though unfortunately I haven’t seen it on its native Imax, but it’s what a good theatrical doc should be and is a nice, succinct tale of human ingenuity.
3 Comments Add yours