Earlier this year, I packed up my household three times under the threat of wildfires, which raged across California. For this reason, I wasn’t looking forward to watching The Lost Bus, which documents the heroic efforts of two regular people saving 22 school children. I’m happy to admit that I was misguided. The film had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end as it captured rising hysteria as skies turned black with smoke, the air burned throats and helicopters dropped water from the air until the howling winds prevented them from flying. All people could do was watch the fire relentlessly approach.
The film is based on fact, so you know the outcome before it ends but that doesn’t take anything away from the suspense it creates. I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and the audience I watched it with were both exhilarated and exhausted when the lights came up on a standing ovation.
The Lost Bus documents a 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California, that killed 85 people and burnt through homes, displacing 52,000 people. Matthew McConaughey portrays a down-on-his-luck father under pressure from all sides. Recently divorced, he’s at loggerheads with his son and struggling to take care of his wheelchair-bound mother (played by his actual son and mom). On a windswept day a power line breaks and sparks in the dry brush. Instead of shutting off the electricity, the lines are kept live and, as more power lines take stress from the forceful winds, sparks spread and new fires engulf an area that’s a tinderbox due to drought.
As with all tragedy, people’s instinct to be calm and hope for the best sometimes leaves them with no options available to get out. A school some distance from the fire’s trajectory contemplates closing early. Ultimately, they make a call for parents to collect their kids, but some working parents can’t leave their jobs. Those in the line of fire understand the risk but, a few cities over, others don’t realise the urgency or they’re too far away to reach the school in time. Twenty-two children are left with nowhere to go. McConaughey’s character is busy trying to get medicine to his son after his shift as a school bus driver when he hears kids begging to be taken away from the encroaching fires. He reluctantly decides to trust that his son and mother will get to safety and he goes back to the school.
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, How to Train Your Dragon) plays a teacher who wants to get to her son, but has to wait until the school bus can navigate the now crowded streets as people flee the approaching inferno of fire. Paul Greengrass (Jason Bourne, Captain Phillips) directs the film as if the escalating urgency is a character. Once the kids are finally loaded on the bus, she tries to leave to fetch her own children but the bus driver needs someone to keep order with the ones on board. He insists she joins them and she agrees. What unfolds is a testament to courage and also spotlights people who insist on stupid rules without the flexibility and leeway to bend them according to human needs.
Being caught in a merciless firestorm reminds us of nature’s might and cautions us to anticipate disasters so we are not surprised when they happen.
Ferrera and McConaughey play their characters as vulnerable adults with their own needs, terrified, but bravely innovating in the face of relentless obstacles. “I like the way Paul handles the scope of action and the intimate interpersonal drama,” says McConaughey in his lazy Texan drawl. “The fact that the story is inspired by true events gives it extra resonance.”
Ferrera says, “I’m really drawn to stories that explore the nuance of heroism. My role is inspired by Mary, the teacher who saw her duty as not only trying to keep the children alive but also mitigating the trauma and emotional damage. She suppresses her own fear and needs to sing to the kids, play games and distract them. There’s emotional intelligence and heroism there.”
McConaughey was attracted to the role because of the father-and-son relationship in the film. At TIFF he shared with the audience that his son Levi, 17, the eldest of his three children with Camila Alves, asked if he could audition for the role as the character’s son. Matthew didn’t respond until his son asked for the third time. He then sat with Levi and explained the craft. “I told him it’s about emulating humanity,” says McConaughey. “It’s a rodeo you go at with your soul and no bullsh*t in your bones.” They shot an audition scene and McConaughey told the casting director to remove his son’s last name when it went to the director to avoid bias. He got the role.
Casting his mother, Mary Kathlene McCabe, to play his film mother was easier. Greengrass suggested it. “Next thing you know I’m in a scene with my mom and son, something I never dreamed would happen. I’m honoured to be a bridge between those two generations,” he says.
McConaughey has taken the last six years since his last film to write and explore avenues of leadership and enjoy fatherhood. He published a book: Poems & Prayers. “Sometimes it takes time off, going through a different chapter and saying I’m going to change things in my life to give perspective. When I returned to acting I was reminded of how much I love it.”
The Lost Bus is streaming on Apple TV+.
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