PLOT: A bus driver (Matthew McConaughey) and a school teacher (America Ferrera) try to save a busload of children during the 2018 Camp Fire, one of the deadliest fires in California history.
REVIEW: I walked into The Lost Bus knowing very little about the cataclysmic disaster it was based on. Suffice to say, it didn’t take long for Paul Greengrass to plunge me headfirst into the chaos. As always, he proves a master at mixing scale and reality, with this being a truly harrowing story about a tragic event that could have been even worse without the heroism of regular people going above and beyond.
Matthew McConaughey is terrific as Kevin McCay. A newly minted school bus driver, his home life is a mess: recently divorced, taking care of his mother and estranged teenage son, and struggling financially. Things are so bad that the movie begins in an achingly sad way, with him forced to put down his sick, elderly dog. Greengrass does a good job evoking his plight, with McConaughey’s real-life mother and son playing those roles here, adding to the realism.
In fact, the movie starts in such a somber way that I worried it might be oppressive, but once the Camp Fire begins, it turns into a gripping, reality-based disaster film. Greengrass and DP Pål Ulvik Rokseth plunge us directly into the inferno, while James Newton Howard’s score is suitably intense. It’s a shame most will see this AppleTV+ film on streaming, as it feels built for theaters.
The film conveys just how random and unpredictable a wildfire’s path can be. When McCay picks up a desperate plea to evacuate a class full of kids, their dedicated teacher Mary (America Ferrera) joins him. With radio communications down, they’re inadvertently sent straight into the path of the fire, with only the school bus as their fragile shelter against the raging flames that ultimately claimed 85 lives.
While the film centers on Kevin and Mary struggling to keep the kids calm while battling smoke, heat, and exhaustion, it also takes a broader look at the disaster and its causes. Yul Vazquez co-stars as the local fire chief, desperately trying to map the fire’s path while battling the bureaucracy that let the situation spiral so wildly out of control. With recent headlines about devastating fires in California, Greengrass’s depiction feels painfully timely.
McConaughey shines in his first film in six years (though we caught the yet-to-be-released The Rivals of Amziah King at SXSW). His Kevin McCay is far from idealized—he’s a mess, on the verge of losing his new job—but when push comes to shove, he puts everything on the line for the kids. Ferrera is also excellent as the dedicated teacher, especially in a tense sequence where she risks her life to scavenge water for the dehydrated children.
It’s a shame The Lost Bus will likely pass unnoticed in theaters (similar to Apple’s recent Highest 2 Lowest), as Greengrass has crafted an immersive survival thriller best appreciated on the biggest screen possible. Still, it’s a gripping, powerful film that will put any home theater through its paces.
