Rebuilding review: Poignant portrait of resilience and community
If you need a film that restores your faith in humanity and reminds you of the strength of the human spirit during hardship, then I can’t recommend Rebuilding highly enough.
This neo-Western drama, set in a remote region of Colorado, follows cowboy Dusty (Josh O’Connor) two months after he lost his home and 200-acre ranch to a wildfire. After bouncing around other people’s homes, he moves into an emergency government-run trailer park. He’s a quiet, lonely man who has just lost everything and is looking to start his life over from scratch, but with no farm, he has no money to rebuild his home and get back on his feet.
Dusty considers moving to Montana to find farm work, thinking he has no reason to stay and that his daughter Callie-Rose (Lily LaTorre) doesn’t need him, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The film follows Dusty as he becomes more involved with Callie-Rose, who lives with his ex-wife Ruby (Meghann Fahy), and finds a sense of community with the others who lost their homes, including Mila (Kali Reis).
Rebuilding is a sweet, simple film about resilience and community and the importance of forging on when the future looks bleak, letting people in and starting over again. There are beautiful shots of the dusty Colorado landscape and the acoustic guitar soundtrack tapped into something in me emotionally. It is quite slow and quiet, and it takes time for anything major to happen, but it is not remotely boring. I was perfectly content watching Dusty rebuild his life, and the hopeful final act makes it well worth your time.
O’Connor, who previously gained notice for his portrayal of a sheep farmer in God’s Own Country, is so good as the stoic, taciturn cattle rancher Dusty. His performance feels so authentic and lived-in as this American cowboy, with a perfect regional accent to boot, when he is so far from the character in real life. Consider me impressed! I would have loved more Fahy (always) and Reis, but it’s not their story, and they do as much as they can with their roles.
O’Connor has been on quite a run – Rebuilding was his fourth U.S. release in 2025 alongside Wake Up Dead Man, The Mastermind and The History of Sound. This is easily my favourite. It’s simple, timely and beautiful and has a lot more to say than you think.
In cinemas from Friday 17th April