Index – Culture – They were also photographed in the throat of death, they fled with a scream of concussion

Between November 8 and 25, 2018, a fire of unprecedented speed and power burned the small town of Paradise, Northern California, to the ground. In the disaster, 85 people lost their lives, 50,000 people became fugitives, and almost 100 percent of the buildings (residential houses, shops, schools) were made equal to the terrain.

It was the most severe wildfire in the United States in the last hundred years. In this sense, the devastation of the fire, apostrophized as a “perfect storm”, was aggravated by a plethora of factors: the abundant vegetation that remained from spring, extreme drought and low humidity, the lack of autumn rains and the strong and warm wind.

Director Ron Howard’s relatives are residents of a town called Redding, just an hour and a half from Paradise, so Howard has turned to “Paradise” several times before. The idea of ​​filming the small town on fire can be linked to the name of the assistant director, Louisa Velis. After the excursion, the man and Imagine Entertainment managed to partner with National Geographic, which provided the financial backing for Ron’s film.

“We are proud to share with global audiences the powerful story of Paradise that prompts immediate action,” said Carolyn Bernstein, vice president of documentaries and dramatized series for National Geographic.

They hope the film will draw people’s attention to the residents of Paradise. and to help build support for the rebuilding of the city and the region, especially as wildfires have become a constant source of danger in California.girl status.

They were also photographed in the throat of death.

The amateur footage, which served as the first ten minutes of the film, were taken during the raging fire, but despite the live Facebook and Facebook videos, in Ron’s words, even professional film material doesn’t come close to apocalyptic reality.

The film is not propaganda about climate change, fire safety, or human negligence, but rather a play that encourages observation and thought. At least for that purpose. Although it does not spread, the aforementioned themes permeate the film far below the surface, as these are the factors that have uprooted the lives of the inhabitants of Paradise two years ago.

The power of union and community is beautifully reflected in the images: the small town (families, friends, school psychologist, police, firefighters, school principal, former mayor) struggles to survive as one person, but this town is also the home of black lambs who prefer to retire. load the postage.

The disagreements and stress surrounding the rebuilding process are tragically ruining friendships and even human lives. Local school superintendent Michelle’s husband, Phil, for example, suffers a heart attack and his death visibly shakes the entire community.

In new waters

Making a documentary is a much more thankless task than a feature film, since its structure is much more closely linked than that of fiction. Howard and his team knew they wanted to follow the fate of the city for a whole year, although it was often not possible to predict when a campaign would stop shooting. The scenes cannot be taken again four, five times, they must be worked quickly, precisely and consciously, since the scene written by life can be constantly changing, it is unique and unrepeatable.

After the Fire: Recreating and Roofing a 1.5-hour documentary, Rebuilding Paradise, turned out to be a literally sweaty task. His presentation, according to American critics, is “particularly timely because it resonates with the moment.”

Excerpt from National Geographic interview with Ron Howard

What prompted you to film the Campfire and Paradise story?

It was all personal enough for me. Upon hearing the idea from my assistant, I immediately turned to Imagine Entertainment’s documentary team, Justin Wilkes and Sarah Bernstein. I said I wanted to make a documentary about this, since I had been researching topics before anyway. I was very moved by the story, so I went to see the scene myself. The destruction was unattainable. Nat Geo soon got in touch with us and became our partner, they supported us both financially and emotionally.

What was it like to be there?

I was a very young child when I worked on the first movie of my life. In Europe, we wrote 1958, I visited places destroyed in World War II. As we filmed, I came across places that hadn’t been rebuilt yet, and I still felt like this in this spooky frame of mind. In this case, everything happened so suddenly. It just ended, with this intensity and speed …

But feature films are different from documentaries, but do you see similarities as a filmmaker?

Apollo 13 was my first movie based on events that happened. Today, however, I have staged quite a few similar stories. I really like this job, but it is still a completely different task. It has to be captivating, fun, it is also part of understanding, the relationship with the audience. Directing a documentary is similar to journalism. If we want to capture history fairly, it must reflect the truth that we have experienced.

(The Hungarian premiere of the film will be screened on the second anniversary of the tragedy on November 8, 2020, at 9 p.m., on the Nat Geo channel without interruption.)