Hell on Earth

 

BRING YOUR OWN BRIGADE (A-minus) - This urgent documentary takes its time (two hours) to lay out the horror of wildfires (mostly the California variety), the causes behind them, and the solutions to the problem. British director Lucy Walker ("Waste Land," about landfills) brings a fresh cultural perspective from across the pond to cut through the patented American can't-do spirit to addressing the problem.

Going beyond just the hokey rebuilding focus on the 2018 Camp Fire in "Rebuilding Paradise" (below), Walker digs deep with some smart experts and even a few cagey residents in both Paradise in northern California and Malibu in Southern California (noting the red-blue/rich-poor contrast between the two areas). She spends nearly the first half hour on harrowing footage from recent fires, setting the table in the first third of the documentary. She then segues into the causes, with many talking heads citing more factors than merely the warming of the planet. Forest management is explained quite well. Nothing is presented as simplistic or black-and-white.

Walker also chooses a few interesting characters to thread through her narrative. One, who takes care of his dying 90-year-old mother, is a no-nonsense guy whose Paradise home was spared and who opens up that home to a bunch of families who were left out in the cold. A couple of other gruff residents acknowledge the dangers of living in the mountains. The victims are presented in ways that are sympathetic but not overly sentimental. 

Walker has an ace up her sleeve, as she follows the Paradise town council and fire officials as they put together a comprehensive slate of suggested solutions. This being small-town America, stay for the climactic scene in which the town leaders vote on the proposals. Walker, who also narrates, has a knack for pacing, and unravels this story like a compelling two-part episode of "Law & Order." This is smart polemical filmmaking.

REBUILDING PARADISE (B-minus) - This highly stylized Hollywood disaster porn has the slick residue of Ron Howard's corny production values as he valorizes the victims of the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., of November 2018. No doubt these folks went through a lot, losing their worldly possessions and dealing with the deaths of their neighbors, friends and loved ones; but this celebration of the American spirit offers little insight into the aftermath of the fire that killed 85 people.

The film follows some rather uninspiring characters, including a wise-cracking cop (who comes across as a poor man's Ryan Reynolds); an elderly man in recovery determined to rebuild his house; and a school superintendent trying to herd cats and who eventually loses her husband in a way unrelated to the fire. Nobody in particular stands out. The cop's marriage eventually fails, though that probably had little to do with Mother Nature's devastation. And kudos to the PG&E representative willing to take his lumps in front of an angry crowd of locals aghast at the failings of the utility company.

Howard opens the film with a 10-minute horror montage, featuring some truly frightening footage that you've probably already seen on newscasts or YouTube. That introduction is expertly edited and paced, but it sets the viewer's expectations awfully high, and the cheesy storytelling that follows can't match the initial emotion.