The Lost Bus

Edge of Your Seat True Story

**I’m going to attempt to cover as many Oscar nominated films as I can up until the March 15th broadcast. The Lost Bus received a well deserved Best Visual Effects nomination.

Based on actual events, The Lost Bus recounts a harrowing story during the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California.

Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey) is a school bus driver who is barely hanging on to his job and his personal life. He gives the bare minimum, and on the day of the largest fire in California’s history, he struggles with a teenager at home with a fever and a maintenance check at work that he has put off for too long. When dispatch calls needing a bus to transport children who are being evacuated to a nearby school, McKay waits in anticipation for another driver to respond. Identified as the closest driver in the area, McKay realizes the short trip could earn him much-needed brownie points at work.

The task is simple. Twenty-two children need to be transported from their school, which has received evacuation orders, to a safe school ten minutes away. Their teacher, Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera), is eager to load her students onto the bus and hurry home to her family, but ends up riding along when McKay asks for her help.

The film toggles between the bus journey and the emergency response teams. We watch as the fire quickly grows out of control, leaving firefighters and first responders to update their priorities on a minute by minute basis. For the busload of children, this means the drop-off they are being sent to is no longer safe, and with radio signals down, this news does not reach McKay.

This film becomes a nail-biting journey as the fire blazes throughout the county. The cinematography is top-notch, as the re-enacted inferno feels as insurmountable as it actually was. The driving sequences are just as stressful when you watch the bus careen through the narrow rocky roads, with McKay plowing blindly through flames and smoke.

For Northern California residents, the movie has a personal connection and the filmmakers do not shy away from Pacific Gas and Electric’s responsibility in this tragedy.

Watching these ordinary citizens become heroes will inspire viewers to recognize that courage resides in everyone, and you never know if tomorrow may be our day to meet a challenge in front of us.

Rated R

Now Streaming AppleTV+