The Slithering Shadow
Backdraft is one of my favorite films of all time. I've literally seen it hundreds of times, and despite the fact it was rated R, it was the film that excited me and the one I could watch over and over, putting me to sleep when I was only four, all due to the fact it was about firefighters.
Now, as a Backdraft nut, the one thing I never understood was Ronald Bartel (Donald Sutherland). The film is about two brothers who are firefighters, and Brian. (William Baldwin), is trying to prove himself, so he transfers to an arson unit led by Donald "Shadow" Rimgale (Robert DeNiro). The film focuses on a series of arsons that are oxygen-induced infernos called backdrafts.
So, there's one scene in the film where Shadow goes to a parole hearing at a prison. We discover that the inmate who is being looked at for parole is Ronald Bartel, a convicted arsonist who Shadow knows real well. We discover that Shadow saved Ronald, who pulled him out of a fire he started when he lost control of the situation, having his hands and hair on fire. While he was rescued, Rimgale wasn't so lucky due to the fact he was standing in phosphorus, which exploded and threw him back against a wall, leaving a shadowed imprint on the wall, thus giving him the name "Shadow" by firemen.
However, we find that when Ronald meets Brian, he knew Brian's father, a legendary fire captain who was killed during a fire when Brian was a child who personally witnessed it.
NOW, this was where I was getting screwed up, because I couldn't get the whole angle of Ronald knowing Brian's dad, of why an arsonist and a firefighter would know each other, because there's a scene near the end of the film when Shadow gets hurt and Brian goes to Ronald for help on the arson case, and Ronald describes the day that Brian's dad dies, as if he was there.
Well, I'm on YouTube a few weeks ago when someone finally pointed it out to me, something that's been eluding me for 22 YEARS.
Ronald started the fire that killed Brian's dad...
BOOM! MIND BLOWN!
My mouth drops to the floor, because it makes sense...
There has to be many people who knew this, and this might not seem that interesting, but for YEARS, I've been wondering what the connection was, because Ronald plays a big part in the movie, and to understand he was the one who killed Brian's dad, because it's never stated in the movie, this is HUGE for me.
Now, as a Backdraft nut, the one thing I never understood was Ronald Bartel (Donald Sutherland). The film is about two brothers who are firefighters, and Brian. (William Baldwin), is trying to prove himself, so he transfers to an arson unit led by Donald "Shadow" Rimgale (Robert DeNiro). The film focuses on a series of arsons that are oxygen-induced infernos called backdrafts.
So, there's one scene in the film where Shadow goes to a parole hearing at a prison. We discover that the inmate who is being looked at for parole is Ronald Bartel, a convicted arsonist who Shadow knows real well. We discover that Shadow saved Ronald, who pulled him out of a fire he started when he lost control of the situation, having his hands and hair on fire. While he was rescued, Rimgale wasn't so lucky due to the fact he was standing in phosphorus, which exploded and threw him back against a wall, leaving a shadowed imprint on the wall, thus giving him the name "Shadow" by firemen.
However, we find that when Ronald meets Brian, he knew Brian's father, a legendary fire captain who was killed during a fire when Brian was a child who personally witnessed it.
NOW, this was where I was getting screwed up, because I couldn't get the whole angle of Ronald knowing Brian's dad, of why an arsonist and a firefighter would know each other, because there's a scene near the end of the film when Shadow gets hurt and Brian goes to Ronald for help on the arson case, and Ronald describes the day that Brian's dad dies, as if he was there.
Well, I'm on YouTube a few weeks ago when someone finally pointed it out to me, something that's been eluding me for 22 YEARS.
Ronald started the fire that killed Brian's dad...
BOOM! MIND BLOWN!
My mouth drops to the floor, because it makes sense...
There has to be many people who knew this, and this might not seem that interesting, but for YEARS, I've been wondering what the connection was, because Ronald plays a big part in the movie, and to understand he was the one who killed Brian's dad, because it's never stated in the movie, this is HUGE for me.
