directed by Paul Greengrass
In 2018 in Northern California there was a massive fire that lasted for 2 weeks. Can you imagine? Two weeks of fire that cannot be put down. I’ve never experienced anything like that and I truly hope not to in the future. A lot of firefighters and special services were involved and worked hard to save as many as it’s possible and make sure the fire doesn’t spread further. Despite their heroic engagement, 85 people died in this catastrophy, yet the number could have been much highier. Today’s film takes us back to 2018, where we follow not a firefighter, but a school bus driver, Kevin (Matthew Mcconaughey). The man’s life has been quite a challenge recently, which included a separation with his partner, the death of his father, the health problems of his mother and quite complicted relations with his own son. Anyway, he tries to manage everything as best as he can. He has transported children to school and is about to go back to the base when suddenly he gets a request: there’s a group of children and their teacher stuck in an area which the spreading wildfire might soon reach. Kevin doesn’t have to agree, considering the fact that he’s also a father and risking his life would be irresponsible. But leaving a bunch of children without help is not acceptable, so Kevin decides to pick them up. From now on, this simple man is fighting an incredibly deadly element. The film is based on a real story and a real bus driver, so knowing this makes the watching experience even more intense. And as much as I love the fact that they presented Kevin as a real hero and shared his story with us, I still think this film could have been better. The thing that bothered me the most was radom zooming in and out. I know that some filmmakers consider it a cool thing to do to in order to make the film more dynamic, but to me it’s horribly annoying, because I feel like watching an amateur video on Tik-Tok. Still, I cannot even imagine how much work they put into recreating the whole fire, which looked horrifying. So in the end, I believe it’s a film worth your time and you should definitely learn about Kevin. But would I watch it again? Not really. But who knows, maybe you’ll have a different opinion?
My rating: 6/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 