The Lost Bus

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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The 2018 fire Northern California’s Butte County is considered “the deadliest and most destructive in wildfire in that state’s history. It began on the morning of November 8, 2018, when a PG&E transmission line burst into flames. The Camp Fire – as it came to be known – caused 85 fatalities, displaced more than 50,000 people, destroyed more than 18,000 structures, and razed more than 150,000 acres. The fire produced an estimated US$16.5 billion in damages.

There were many tragic (and heroic) stories about people caught in the blaze. Traffic jams on the few evacuation routes led to cars being abandoned while people evacuated on foot. At least seven deaths occurred when the fire overtook people who were trapped in their vehicles. However, 70 of the 84 fatalities occurred inside or immediately outside the victims’ residences. Five firefighters were injured.

One extraordinary tale involved a bus driver trying to navigate a vehicle carrying 22 children and their teacher to safety through the 2018 Camp Fire.

Based on the book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” by Lizzie Johnson, a film titled “The Lost Bus” was directed by British filmmaker Paul Greengrass (“The Green Zone,” “Captain Phillips,” those “Jason Bourne” spy thrillers). You can catch it in theaters now.

The film is inspired by the real-life story of bus driver Kevin McKay, who, along with second-grade teacher Mary Ludwig, worked to save the students from the wildfire. (In truth, kindergarten teacher Abbie Davis was also on the bus, but was not included because she did not want to be involved in the film adaptation of the events surrounding the 2018 Camp Fire.)

A new bus driver at the time, McKay responded to an emergency call to evacuate the school, gathering the students and teacher into a rickety bus.

While “lost” during the fire, out of radio contact, the bus navigated gridlocked roads and smoke-filled conditions for six hours. The teacher(s) used wet cloth strips torn from a shirt to help the kids breathe. Despite these life-threatening conditions, McKay successfully drove the bus to the safety of another school 25 miles outside the danger zone … all the while worrying about his own sickly son.

Matthew McConaughey was tapped to play the “rough, sweaty everyman hero behind the wheel.” America Ferrera joined the cast as the “slightly prim” teacher. In a nod to accuracy, McConaughey’s son Levi played the bus driver’s son. And McConaughey’s mom plays his mother.

Think: Bogart and Hepburn in “The African Queen.”

As the Guardian describes it: “Kevin had been a loser and a screwup, alienated from his son and ex-wife, on the verge of getting fired from his school-bus-driving job (due to honest errors attributable to family worries) – but of course highly eligible for the heroic redemption that the fire will provide.”

“Kevin is just going through the ho-hum of a regular day when everything is interrupted by this crisis,” says Matthew McConaughey. “He didn’t want to answer the call to pick up those kids. But there was no one else on that side of town, so he took the call, and it was his salvation.”

Rotten Tomatoes summed it up: “Recreating a real-life disaster with terrifying authenticity, ‘The Lost Bus’ ratchets up the tension while maintaining a humanist core thanks to Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera’s effective performances.”

This is McConaughey’s first film following a six-year break from the big screen. “Real life inspires me,” he says. “Art emulates life more than it does the other way around. So real drama, real responsibilities, real comedy, real pain, real joy, real victory, real failure fills my tank and helps me create better characters.”

The Oscar winner starred in projects like “True Detective” and “Dallas Buyers Club,” but was largely seen as the “rom-com dude.” That ultimately led him to leave Hollywood. But now he’s back with a lot of heat (yes, that is a pun) behind him.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com