It appears that the movie is showing footage of the real-life disastrous Canada’s Lac-Mégantic train disaster of 2013. The disaster killed nearly 50 people and destroyed around 30 buildings. It is considered to be one of the most horrible rail disasters Canada has ever known.
Of course with a disaster of this magnitude, plenty of footage will make its way online, both recorded by bystanders as well as professionals. It appears that some of this footage has been sold by entertainment companies, with some of it appearing in “Bird Box”.
Lac-Mégantic Mayor Julie Morin released a statement about the footage being used in the new movie, saying:
“I don’t know if this is happening all the time, but we are looking for assurances from Netflix that … they are going to remove them. You can be sure we are going to follow up on this, and our citizens are on our side.”
She continues sharing with The Canadian Press:
“We find that it’s really a lack of respect, to use these images as fiction and entertainment,” she added. “It’s hard enough for our citizens to see these images when they are used normally and respectfully on the news. Just imagine, to have them used as fiction, as if they were invented.”
Netflix has responded to the claims to BBC, sharing they will not be removing the footage from the movie.
