Fields Of Fire

Storyline

Fields of Fire attempts , for the Queensland cane cutters what John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath achieved for the itinerant farm workers of Oklahoma. It tells human stories overshadowed by greater event in the form of World War 11 and mechanization of cane harvesting, against a backdrop of an unknown and picturesque way of life. Fields of Fire begins with the start of the cane cutting season in 1939. The young cutters pile off the train in the sleepy sugar town of Silkwood, laughing in the sun , unaware of the events in Europe that will change their lives forever. The ferocious bonding of mateship and the 6 o'clock swill are swiftly and competently sketched. There's no mistaking that this is back slapping ocker country, nor that the women , notably publican Elsie actually run the show. Between the idyllic, sweaty and snake ridden days of hand cane cutting and the post war mechanical revolution are a series of tales centring of new "pommy" cane cutter Bluey who gets roughed up, is befriended by the gentle giant Tiny, joins a rival Italian cane cutting gang , falls in love with a local blonde beauty , is lead astray by her brunette sister and after surviving the war is instrumental in inventing the mechanical cane cutter. Fields of Fire is entertaining, aimed at a wide audience and sheds some light on vanished and fascinating time and place.