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Forces Of Nature

2004, Movie, NR, 40 mins

Forces Of Nature: Review

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A true disaster film, not to be confused with the disastrous Ben Affleck/Sandra Bullock romantic comedy of the same name, which examines the delicate balance between human beings and the weather conditions that surround and sometimes overwhelm them. George V. Casey's 40-minute, large-format documentary examines the impact of volcanic activity, earthquakes and tornadoes on the daily lives of people who coexist with dramatically volatile natural phenomena. It begins with a visit to Montserrat Island in the Caribbean, where the explosive nature of the live Soufriere Hills volcano colors inhabitants' daily lives; the images of billowing pyroclastic flows — a combination of an enormous ash cloud and rock fragments — produced by volcanic eruption are truly incredible. Local scientist Dr. Marie Edmonds, who lives on the side of Soufriere Hills, gives a walk-through of the techniques that she and her colleagues use to predict future eruptions and, they hope, prevent tragedies like the 19 deaths that resulted from the volcano's 1995 eruption. Similarly, geophysicist Dr. Ross Stein is working to create an early earthquake-warning system for the people living along Turkey's North Anatolian Fault. This dangerously unstable fault line runs from one end of the country to the other, and in 1999 its subterranean rumblings caused a 7.4 magnitude quake that killed some 17,000 people in and around the city of Izmit. Stein's focus is ancient buildings that have survived centuries of earthquakes, like Istanbul's Byzantine Church of Hagia Sophia; by examining repairs to the structures he hopes to find clues that will keep Turkey's bustling cities from crumbling in the future. In America, Dr. Joshua Werman and his crew of researchers crisscross the section of the Midwest dubbed "Tornado Alley" in trucks equipped with huge Doppler radar dishes. Their goal is to determine exactly why some storms spawn tornadoes and others don't. Unfortunately, tornadoes are unpredictable and relatively rare, which makes the task of obtaining data both difficult and dangerous. While occasionally dry and over-reliant on computer-generated visualizations of the Earth's core and tectonic plates, this documentary's impressive footage of natural disasters is nothing short of amazing. And the science-heavy narration, ably delivered by Kevin Bacon, is written in such a way that a casual weather fan will come away with a better understanding and appreciation of these violent phenomena. leave a comment --Angel Cohn
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