My Thoughts on the Movie Asphalt City (2023)

October 1, 2024

I have come to expect and accept that very few people have any idea what an EMT or paramedic actually does. (I will use the term ‘medic’ generically in this article.) Throughout my career, I was often frustrated by the perception by those outside the EMS and emergency first responder community that medics were merely Florence Nightingale in a tactical uniform or jumpsuit.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The movie Asphalt City dispels the cliché and provides a gritty, bleak glimpse into what it’s like to work in emergency medical services (EMS) in a big city. It’s an unvarnished, often ugly, sometimes scary reveal for anyone unfamiliar with that unpredictable and dangerous urban environment where EMS represents, quite simply, the frontlines of society: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

In the movie Asphalt City, Tye Sheridan plays a rookie paramedic with FDNY in the New York City EMS system, while Sean Penn plays his partner, the crafty seasoned medic.

I have been both sides of that coin. I was a wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn in the mid-’80s who became the crusty older—and hopefully wiser—veteran of more than thirty years on the ambulance, a.k.a., the car (never ‘the bus’ in Toronto). I was an Advanced Care Paramedic, a police tactical medic, a paramedic supervisor, an EMS educator, an emergency management consultant and advisor, and a provincial disaster team commander. I have seen things (heard, felt, smelled, tasted) that the general public—hopefully—will never experience.

But here is where I want to offer my most essential observations because, while watching the movie, I was in awe of the fidelity with which the scenes of a medic’s day-to-day work environment were depicted. The raw violence of the film’s first few minutes, the legitimate and absurd (surreal) craziness of some of our regular psych patient interactions, the chaos of multi-casualty incidents, and the skill with which the actors performed their ‘duties’ made me feel like I was with them out on the road.

With the lifting of the stair chair and stretcher, the application of a non-rebreather oxygen mask (where Tye’s character took the vital few seconds to inflate the reservoir bag), the portrayal of the evolving tension pneumo, and the general treatment of the gunshot victims, it would be apparent to any seasoned medic that the actors spent a lot of time training for their roles in this film. A lot.

Kudos to Tye Sheridan, Sean Penn, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, Shannon Burke, Ryan King, Ben Mac Brown, and everyone who contributed to the making of Asphalt City, including the incredible medics and educators at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (WHMC) in Brooklyn, New York, and the crews of 45Y, the paramedic unit based out of WHMC.

Final word. This movie is not for the faint of heart. I would not necessarily recommend it to those just entering the profession, nor their parents or loved ones. It is a brutal depiction of a profession that begins with the noble decision of someone choosing to help others as a career. But it shows in all its unvarnished truth the dark side of that choice, rife with trauma both immediate and vicarious, and uses hyperbole to portray the anguish and mental health crises that are common in the world of EMS. At times, it is brutal and ugly. Yet, it is still the greatest and most noble profession ever.

Asphalt City might be the most truthful film ever made about EMS and the bona fide heroes who work in emergency medical services every day, everywhere.

Every medic has their demons, but if you or anyone you know is or may be in crisis with a mental health issue, please ask for help.

In Canada and the United States, you can call or text 9-8-8 in a mental health crisis.

#EMS #EMT #paramedic #NYC #FDNY #AsphaltCity #PTSD #SeanPenn #TyeSheridan #JeanStéphaneSauvaire