Pete Davidson’s semi-autobiographical movie, The King of Staten Island, receives a positive accuracy score from a professional New York firefighter. The 2020 comedy-drama, directed by Judd Apatow, follows a young man struggling to find direction in his life after his firefighter father passed away during 9/11. The film lifts elements from its star’s real-life, as Davidson’s firefighter dad died when he was just a child, and it was met with positive reviews from critics.

In a recent video for Insider, New York firefighter Anthony Martinez analyzes scenes from The King of Staten Island, grading them for their accuracy.

The movie earned a high score, grading an 8/10 on the accuracy scale for depicting the importance of the engine pump panel, the metafictional appearance of Steve Buscemi, who used to be a professional firefighter before turning to acting, and firefighters scaling ladders to enter a burning building. Check out Martinez’s comments below:

I was actually glad that they showed the pump panel, because the chauffeur’s job is one of the most important jobs on the engine pump panel. Without him, and giving us water, nobody’s putting out any fires, so that’s actually really important. You have your engine company, their job is to put water on the fire. The truck’s job is, search for life, search for fire. We have multiple teams, just on the truck alone.

It’s cool to see Steve Buscemi actually partaking in this clip. He used to be a firefighter, and he actually volunteered his services during the September 11 cleanup… I’ve been pretty close to a couple incidents where fire’s blowing out the window. Regardless, we still have to go in, especially if there’s a potential sign of life hazard in the structure. I would definitely give this one an 8. There’s a lot of stuff that was going on in this video that we actually do in real life.

Why Realism In Movies Has Become More Important To Audiences

Modern Viewers Expect Movies To Provide An Accurate Representation

In recent years, there seems to have been a rise in the analysis of realism in movies and TV, with plenty of instances where experts such as Martinez weigh in on the legitimacy and accuracy of particular scenes. This has seemingly become more important to audiences and filmmakers in modern times, as people value accuracy and attention to detail. Even with movies in the fantasy or science-fiction genres, where real-world rules don’t always apply, there is still a focus on the accuracy of interactions and emotions between characters.

One of the reasons realism matters more in movies these days could be due to the fact that everything is accessible now due to the internet and the rise of social media. People can find out the answers to most things very easily using the internet, and the opinions and input of experts is far easier to acquire, which means the need to provide realism in movies is higher. With certain genres, like horror, this is perhaps less relevant, but the accuracy and realism of historical epics, for instance, is essential for ensuring they are more immersive for audiences.

A movie like The King of Staten Island needs to have a high level of accuracy due to the fact that firefighting is central to the subject matter and theme of the story that is being told. Providing the most accurate possible depiction of this is needed in order to ensure the audience doesn’t feel cheated. This attention to detail is likely to be one of the factors that has brought The King of Staten Island critical acclaim.

Source: Insider