Even viewers who’ve seen Those Who Wish Me Dead, Angelina Jolie’s 2021 thriller centered on the real-life dangers of forest fires, might still be wondering what smokejumpers are — and if the movie depicts firefighters accurately. Directed by Yellowstone‘s Taylor Sheridan, Those Who Wish Me Dead uses Montana locations as its backdrop, and centers on Jolie’s Hannah, a smokejumper with a traumatic past. Before the events of the film, hardened survivalist Hannah fails to save a fellow smokejumper and three campers from a raging forest fire. In the present, a guilt-ridden Hannah keeps watch at a fire lookout tower in the hopes of preventing future tragedies.
Early on in Angelina Jolie’s action movie comeback, the actor’s Hannah heads out on patrol and finds a young boy, Connor (Finn Little), who’s on the run from assassins. Evidently, his father, Owen (Jake Weber), is a soon-to-be target in a series of contracted killings. The father-son duo were fleeing to Connor’s Montana-based uncle’s (Jon Bernthal) house, but assassins Jack (Aidan Gillen) and Patrick (Nicholas Hoult) tracked them to the forest. When Hannah tries to escort Connor into town, the pair find their path blocked by a forest fire — one Patrick and Jack started with flares in order to preoccupy the authorities.
Hannah’s Role As A Smokejumper In Those Who Wish Me Dead Explained
The U.S. Forest Service’s smokejumpers are a subset of firefighters who provide an initial response to remote wild-land fires. Often, they enter the site of a blaze by parachuting in, hence the smokejumper moniker. Prior to the establishment of smokejumpers, aviation firefighting experiments centered on the dispensing of “water bombs.” Around 1934, however, it became apparent that more on-the-ground support was needed to attack fledgling wildfires (via USDA). By the early 1940s, experiments in the tactic gave way to the establishment of full-on smokejumper training camps. Supplied with tools, water, and food, smokejumpers are an incredibly self-reliant force once on the ground.
Those Who Wish Me Dead Review: Drama Is Suspenseful, But Lacks Strong Plot
But while the film has all of the makings of a memorable neo-western and the protagonists are worth rooting for, its premise is lacking and vague.
As seen in the opening sequence of Those Who Wish Me Dead, Hannah and her fellow smokejumpers enter a site and perform the initial “attack” on a wildfire. Using a range of tactics, the smokejumper team tries to suppress the wildfire by taking into account the many different fire-fueling variables, from atmospheric conditions to the surrounding terrain to the fire’s initial size and scope. Hannah, for example, uses an ax to construct fire lines (or firebreaks) — gaps in vegetation and other combustibles that help slow a fire’s progress. Like hotshot crews, smokejumpers are experts in their field, though they generally serve as the first line of defense.
How Accurately Smokejumpers Are Depicted In Those Who Wish Me Dead
Since a shaken Hannah is assigned observation duties at a remote fire tower in the film’s present, her smokejumper days are chronicled in just a few fleeting flashbacks. Even so, her on-the-ground expertise and self-sufficiency certainly come in handy as she escorts Connor through the fire-stricken forest. While Those Who Wish Me Dead takes a lot of liberties with realism in order to amp up its epic action sequences, the film depicts smokejumpers pretty accurately, especially for a popcorn movie that leans into adrenaline-pumping disaster set-pieces. By keeping its smokejumper scenes slight and vague, Those Who Wish Me Dead gives the impression of authority.
Sources: USDA, U.S. Forest Service
