Rebuilding Paradise

Directed by Ron Howard, Rebuilding Paradise follows the residents of Paradise, California as they attempt to reconstruct their community after it’s leveled by an astonishingly destructive fire in 2018. Filmmaker Howard admittedly does a superb job of immediately drawing the viewer into the briskly-paced proceedings, as Rebuilding Paradise kicks off with a fairly harrowing stretch revolving around the aforementioned fire and its deadly impact on the small town. It’s an impressively visceral opening that paves the way for a somewhat hit-and-miss midsection that admittedly becomes more and more absorbing as time progresses, with the increasingly engrossing atmosphere due in no small part to Howard’s growing emphasis on the exploits of several key figures (ie the movie’s subjects are eventually far more compelling and sympathetic than one might’ve initially expected). There is, as such, little doubt that Rebuilding Paradise eventually moves into a second half that’s chockablock with captivating sequences, as the picture’s assortment of protagonists are, generally speaking, put through the wringer in terms of their respective personal lives. (One such individual’s spouse even dies, in a stretch that certainly packs one heck of an emotional punch.) By the time the very satisfying closing few minutes roll around, Rebuilding Paradise has undoubtedly confirmed its place as a top-tier documentary that’s often as heartbreaking as it is hopeful.

***1/2 out of ****