If you’re like me and you have not only asthma but also a huge phobia about getting caught in the middle of an out-of-control fire, you should definitely make sure you have your inhaler nearby while watching The Lost Bus.

Based on an actual California wildfire that killed over 80 people in 2018, The Lost Bus takes the viewer straight into the fire.  We watch as one power line falls off of a poorly maintained tower.  We see the sparks and then we see the fire that starts to burn almost immediately.  Soon, the fire is moving down the mountain and through the forest.  The camera zooms into the heart of the growing disaster and the viewer spends many horrifying minutes in the middle of the inferno, watching as trees burst into flames and the black smoke turns the sky dark as night.  We hear the wind blowing the fire closer and closer to civilization and we realize, even before the majority of the characters in the film, that there’s no way to stop it.  Tears came to my eyes as I watched the fire destroying everything that it touched and I did have to grab my inhaler at one point.  The film’s visualization of the wildfire overwhelms you, to the extent that you might actually feel the heat radiating off of the screen.

When the film shifts away from the fire, it’s focuses on Kevin (Matthew McConaughey), a directionless man who has recently returned to his hometown and who works as a school bus driver.  When he first realizes how bad the fire is, his first instinct is to rush back to his home but then he hears over the radio that there are over 20 children at an elementary school who need to be taken to safety.  Kevin’s bus is the only one in the area.  He picks up the children and their teacher, Mary (America Ferrara) and tries to drive them to another area so that they can be reunited with their parents.  While Kevin is just trying to get his bus and the kids to safety, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection fights a losing battle to try to contain the inferno.

Both Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrara are playing rather familiar characters.  Kevin is the perennial screw-up, the guy who is on the verge of losing his job but who ultimately proves himself to be the type of hero that no one expected him to be.  Mary is the dedicated teacher who tells the kids to walk in a straight line and who tries to keep them calm even when new fires are erupting around them.  Kevin never wanted to come back to his hometown while Mary never wants to leave it.  Though the characters may be familiar, McConaughey and Ferrara both give authentic and lived-in performances.  That said, the most compelling character remains the fire itself, a creation of pure out-of-control chaos and a reminder of the heart-breaking randomness of life.

This is another one of Paul Greengrass’s shaky cam docudramas.  As a filmmaker, Greengrass is one of the best when it comes to putting the viewer right in the middle of the action and, for once, not even Greengrass’s signature political posturing can stop the film’s momentum.  The Lost Bus is a film that ultimately celebrates not only community but also how one individual can make a difference in a time of crisis.  It’s a film that left me out-of-breath and with tears in my eyes.