Sitting on my basement couch in Omaha, N.E., the room in my house that is undeniably the coldest, began to feel uncomfortably hot as I watched wildfires blaze through Paradise, C.A., on the TV screen.
In the last issue of the newspaper, I had a rare opportunity to meet and interview Lizzie Johnson, a Millard North alumna from 2011.
Johnson, over the course of the years since she graduated, has kept busy and done a plethora of things. Most notably, and for the purposes of this review, writing a book about “Camp Fire,” the deadliest wildfire in American History.
Her book, “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire,” aimed to explain individual perspectives on what happened the day of the fire. Johnson honed in on the distinctive stories of residents, paramedics, firefighters, all while actually experiencing the fire herself, as she was a volunteer firefighter.
Her novel was picked up by Blumhouse Productions, which is headed by well-known actor Jamie Lee Curtis and producer Jason Blum, as well as others. Johnson, as an executive producer on the movie, played a key role in the reconstruction of the day of “Camp Fire.”
The movie’s main character, Kevin McKay (played by Matthew McConaughey) is a bus driver, and receives a phone call from his mother, telling him that his son, Shaun, is sick. McKay is hurrying home when the evacuation notice for Paradise is called.
McKay’s boss calls out to all units, begging if any bus driver could pick up 23 kids and bring them to the designated safe spot. McKay struggles with what to do, before he pivots around and drives to Ponderosa Elementary School.
Upon arriving, McKay works alongside Mary Ludwig (played by America Ferrera), a kindergarten teacher, to keep the children calm and collected as they gather onto the bus, not knowing the perilous conditions that lie ahead.
“The Lost Bus” is rated ‘R’ and is categorized as a thriller. That being said, it is rated this way for harsh language and violence, and being described as a thriller is 100% accurate.
For the entirety of the film, I was genuinely anxious. At the end, I didn’t realize two hours had gone by; I was extremely focused and drawn into the movie. However, the feeling of anxiety only grew, along with the utter, raw emotion it provoked.
I won’t lie, this movie wasn’t an easy watch. Just as Johnson told me, that day was the worst day of a lot of people’s lives, and I think that the movie really captures that essence that Johnson wanted to stay true to. You witness the extremes people turn to in panic-filled chaos. In clips, you watch people catching on fire, banging on the bus’s door with firearms, and drowning in rivers to avoid the fire.
The acting contributed by McConaughey, especially in the scenes where you can see him fighting with his inner monologue, was powerful to watch: Do I turn around to go save the other kids? Do I stay on course to take care of my own kid? One scene in particular, he breaks down into full-fledged tears, and I found myself really feeling for this character and how he struggled.
I also thought a couple of scenes were mildly unbelievable, and even a little irritating as a viewer. Especially when Ferrera is trying to calm the students. After the evacuation notice is called and McKay is trying to load the kids up quickly, Ludwig pauses and wastes precious time. She asks the kids how they’re doing, how their day has been, gets them to line up in two lines, and waits to proceed until all have said they are ready.
I completely understand needing to keep the kids calm, but I felt like there could have been a more timely route taken. The long time with the kids led to more problems later in the movie that could have been solved if they had used those minutes to leave earlier.
Regardless, these situations, combined with the otherwise powerful and moving performances of McConaughey and Ferrera, made the movie a compelling one and really helped me to understand how grave wildfires can be, especially in states like California.
Living in a state like Nebraska, especially somewhere where wildfires are something we never experience, obviously, I knew what wildfires were, but I didn’t quite understand how all-encompassing they could be. This movie showed firsthand how complicated the evacuations could be, how pileups can happen, and how difficult they were to contain.
Overall, I would recommend this movie to anyone who can handle the frightening aspects of wildfires, and to anyone who can block off two hours solely for this. I can guarantee you will be absolutely captivated by the intense story of “The Lost Bus.”