In a nonstop, anxiety-inducing newscycle, it’s hard to focus on a particular catastrophe. My mind always manages to revisit the Southern California wildfires in January. We often elevate the beauty of nature, but try to ignore the fury, forgetting our complicity in the many ways in which we exacerbate it. 57,529 acres of lives, memories, and traces of family lineage were all gone in the span of 20+ days. Warmth is the sun’s first rays, awakening the day and a flame with an uncontrollable appetite for destruction. I’m thankful when nature shines on us and fearful of its anger.
Max Walker-Silverman’s “Rebuilding” chronicles the aftermath of a massive wildfire in Colorado’s San Luis Valley and how a small community works together to pick up the pieces. However, the title is not only applicable to any natural disaster, but it’s also a double entendre for its main character and the broken shards of his personal life. Dusty (Josh O’ Connor) is at an impasse. His ranch, which has been passed down through generations, has been reduced to ash. All he has are a few things he managed to pack in a couple of boxes, one horse that a neighboring friend keeps, and his pickup truck. FEMA provides him and others with a temporary trailer to live in.
Josh O’Connor and Lily LaTorre in REBUILDING Courtesy: Bleecker Street
But Dusty is reluctant, as anybody would be when they suddenly lose everything they’ve known. At one point during “Rebuilding,” he says, “I’m not like these people, I still have stuff.” It’s only after living with a friend for a few months that he relents and moves into his temporary home. In his mind, Dusty is still a rancher, but his immediate job is assisting with highway work. He ponders going to Montana to help his cousin as an immediate band-aid to his circumstances. (and who would blame him). But there’s something else that calls for his attention – the thorny relationship with his ex-wife, Ruby (Meghann Fahy), and his young daughter Callie Rose (Lily LaTorre).
Even if Dusty has lost material possessions, Walker-Silverman provides him the leadway in which he can have emotional worth if he’s open to it. At first, Dusty is reluctant to any sort of sense of community. O’ Connor displays this using Dusty’s facial expressions as a canvas. Walker-Silverman strikes a fine balance between allowing space for the story to unfold and incorporating dialogue. Paired with Alfonso Herrera Salcedo’s beautiful cinematography, the Colorado landscape is as much a character as the humans are. People drive past miles of barren trees and burned soil. They walk on the rubble where the rooms they once shared stood, their deep memories reduced to a few seared pieces of wood.
“Rebuilding”
Courtesy of Bleecker Street
In the midst of the massive destruction, “Rebuilding” makes the small, beautiful moments even more precious. As Dusty becomes more open, he starts to realize home is a metaphor. He reconnects with Callie Rose, going to the library to use the one remaining Wi-Fi hotspot to practice her reading. She, in turn, does small things like decorate his trailer with glow-in-the-dark stickers. Dusty gains a friend named Mali (Kali Reis), a mother who lost her husband in the fires, and is trying to pick up the pieces with her daughter. Mali, Dusty, and the others within this small community of mobile homes are, unfortunately, subject to the bureaucratic tape of forms and denied bank loans. (on which Walker-Silverman shows in quick bursts).
During a time where digitizing memories with falsity so we can forgo the hard feelings of grief is so prevalent, there’s something about nature where life and death are non-negotiables. It scares us because we can’t control it. “Rebuilding” highlights the importance of preserving the things we’ll lose by keeping them alive through our stories and community. Ruby’s mother, Bess (Amy Madigan), is ill, but gives a revelation about her life through an emotional confession. It’s something people would dismiss, but it was meaningful to her to verbalize for remembrance.
We don’t know when or at what speed we will lose things or people. But it’s sure that we will lose. ‘ You can predict where ‘Rebuilding’s quiet method of grieving is headed, but it doesn’t manage to dilute its effectiveness. As it turns out, remembrance doesn’t take the pain away, but points to overlooked things you should pay attention to.
