REBUILDING PARADISE
An extraordinary documentary of disaster, courage, and rebuilding.
Should You Watch It?
If you want a documentary that holds your attention while honoring courage, family, and community, this is worth your time. Ron Howard’s film follows Paradise, California, through the devastating Camp Fire and the difficult year that follows. Its first third is especially gripping as residents try to escape through firewalls, traffic jams, darkness, and ash.
The film is also painful. People die, families lose homes, and survivors face displacement, bureaucracy, anger, and uncertainty. The documentary includes a prayer to Jesus and a compelling focus on family and patriotic values, though it does not explore church life or faith in depth.
The practical answer: see it with teenagers and adults, while using discernment with younger children because of the frightening fire scenes.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIn November 2018, warnings of high winds and possible fires reach the small California town of Paradise. Within hours, a brush fire grows from 10 acres to 18,000, surrounding and destroying most of the community.
Residents flee, schools and care facilities evacuate, and families are scattered. In the year afterward, local leaders, students, families, and other citizens face the enormous question of whether Paradise can rebuild.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is an exceptional documentary. REBUILDING PARADISE is one of the most exciting, captivating, and jeopardy-filled documentaries ever made.
Its documentary footage places you inside the evacuation, with residents encountering firewalls, traffic jams, darkness, and ash. The film also follows the emotional aftermath as people rebuild their lives, educate displaced students, and confront obstacles along the way.
The Worldview
The film presents an extremely moral worldview centered on family and patriotic values. It also includes pro-entrepreneurial content, anti-utility content, and strong anti-government sentiment directed toward officials and rebuilding restrictions. Different people express different opinions about government, utilities, forestry, and how Paradise should be rebuilt.
The documentary includes one prayer to Jesus but no other mention of church or faith. That omission stands out because the film shows schools, businesses, fire departments, police, and homes while leaving church absent from its picture of a community in crisis.
The film’s strongest themes are service, responsibility, perseverance, and care for neighbors. A schoolgirl explains that she once left disasters for the government to handle, but now she and other students are raising money and gathering clothing and other help for people in need. That movement toward serving others aligns with Scripture: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Extremely moral worldview focused on family and patriotic values, with some pro-entrepreneurial content, some anti-utility content, some anti-business content, and lots of anti-government sentiment against the town council and the governor and other officials, plus one prayer to Jesus
Foul Language
Four obscenities (including one “f” word) and two exclamatory OMG profanities
Violence
Extremely scary fire footage with reports on the 85 people who died in the Paradise Fire in Northern such as one man who’s trying to get away from the fire in his wheelchair, and some people who died burned in their cars
Sex
No sex
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drug abuse;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Panic, anger, dissimulation and deception by the town council, which is challenged by the citizens and by PG&E utility company controlled by the state government that caused the Paradise Fire.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
When disaster strikes, what responsibilities do families, neighbors, businesses, and governments have toward one another?
Galatians 6:2 · Romans 12:13The students in the film move from observing other people’s suffering to helping them. What need do you see around you, and what practical help could you offer?
James 2:14–17 · 1 John 3:17–18The people of Paradise disagree about rebuilding, government restrictions, and responsibility for the fire. How can Christians speak firmly while remaining truthful and peaceable?
Ephesians 4:15 · James 1:19–20The film includes a prayer to Jesus but no other mention of church or faith. What role should a church play when a community is suffering?
Galatians 6:10 · 1 Peter 4:10The Final Word
REBUILDING PARADISE is an exceptionally exciting and worthwhile documentary about a community facing loss and choosing to rebuild. Its frightening fire footage and strong language call for discernment with younger viewers, but teenagers and adults can find courage, compassion, and perseverance here. Our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP.
