The film I saw last night, is an independent post-apocalyptic thriller. These are my impressions.

What's the plot of Before the Fire?
A deadly virus is rapidly spreading around the world. An actress, Ava Boone, and her boyfriend, Kelly Rhodes, a newspaper photographer, are trying to leave town. The option is to go to both their towns and stay with the boyfriend's family. She doesn't want to go, there's her family in that town and there are things from her past she wants to forget. Circumstances will force her to go to the village, but the fear of the virus and the family fights will create a dangerous situation for her. Running away from danger, she will have to face terrible situations.


Independent cinema, low budget, but with a post-apocalyptic proposal interesting enough so that the film is never boring, even with a little slow sequences. We might think that the film tries to capture viewers with the theme of a virus that currently affects us, but it was made before the coronavirus emerged.
Set in a town in deep America, full of farms and lonely places, it facilitates the creation of that post-apocalyptic atmosphere, where armed militias emerge among the population, as self-defense measures, when food and medicine are scarce.
There is a mystery that surrounds the story throughout the film. What was the problem in the past with the protagonist's family? It may be that the lack of response makes us feel a little disconcerted. We want to know what happened, why he doesn't want to see his parents. But the lack of a concise answer does not affect the development of the story, because by seeing what his father does, we can imagine the events of the past.
The film is not shy about showing the violent events, for a few minutes it may seem that there will be a romantic interest between the protagonist and her brother-in-law, with whom she gets on badly, but slowly it becomes clear that the father is not the one who is going to be the one to blame.
have a good time working on the farm. But there's no chance of that. The effects of the apocalypse come to twist everything, but it is not the virus that is most dangerous, it is the people of the town and the release of their inner demons.
The protagonist of the story will be pushed by circumstances to try to do what she can to survive and escape from that place. She should never have returned, but she couldn't stop. Now she will have to be brave and face the person she fears the most, as well as not get the virus, which will soon spread throughout the village.


The film's script is written by Jenna Lyng, who is also the film's lead actress. In her instagram profile, she identifies herself as a writer, but has also made a career as an actress in small films and TV series. Her most important work as an actress was in the series The Kominsky Method. I will follow her on her social networks to keep an eye on this talented woman, as an actress she plays a good role of a girl who must do extreme things to survive. As a writer, I also find it interesting, the script is hard, I like this kind of stories, where there is no room for nice endings. For the moment, according to the description of her profile on the social network, we'll soon see her in another film, entitled Presence.
Filmmaker Charlie Buhler is making her debut with this film, with experience in TV commercials and short films. This woman director, will soon release a documentary called Rosebud. She is a young woman and with this film she shows that she has the necessary wood to create stories. The pace of the film never slows down and we always keep interest, something very important in these post-apocalyptic stories, that have been taken many times to the movies and television.
The rest of the cast are little known names, most of them with supporting roles in low-budget films and TV series. Actor Charles Hubbell, the most experienced, plays Jasper Boone, the father of the main character and the main villain of the story. His performance is convincing, with an on-screen presence that becomes unpleasant.

It is a film written and directed by talented women. Not everyone may like it, but being the director's first film and the script written by the actress, it is worth watching to evaluate it subjectively, it has elements that make it an interesting film. If both women continue on that path, some future production may surprise them and lead them to success.
Recommended for those who like the history of the post-apocalyptic genre.

My Ranking: 3/5
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