In addition to all the millions spent
on the familiar publicity blitz and the subsequent stories and interviews in
that coalition of the willing known as the media, in the movie business,
context still counts. In the decade leading up to the year 2000, the apocalypse
that never arrived (remember the disappointment of certain segments of the
religious community?) fired up millenarians all over the globe and inspired the
film industry to rattle the multiplexes with several excessive and definitive
disaster spectaculars.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In
those alleged end times, they naturally dealt with larger catastrophes than the
ho-hum stuff of volcanoes, skyscraper fires, and overturned ocean liners,
choosing instead such serious threats as an atomic bomb in Key West (True Lies), a gigantic asteroid on a
collision course with Earth (Armageddon),
and an all-out invasion from outer space (Independence
Day), incidentally increasing the ante for any subsequent disaster
specialists.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Roland
Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996)
thrilled the right-wing commentators. They cheered the alien attacks on the
White House and the Capitol — before 9/11 those folks, faithful to their
ancient desire for totalitarianism, dreamed of such destruction — and claimed
it proved the necessity for Reagan’s favorite hallucination, the Star Wars
missile defense system.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Now
Emmerich’s latest work, The Day After
Tomorrow, has inflamed the usual crybaby conservatives and fickle former
fans by positing an apocalypse based on rapid climate change, the result of
global warming. The notion that humankind, not God, will end the world may be
one of the reasons for the clamorous whining from the right.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
film exaggerates its now familiar concept, frequently and vociferously debated
in the media, by creating a constellation of drastic global climatic events
linked to a shift in the Atlantic Current — devastating tornadoes in Los
Angeles, melon-sized hail in Tokyo, the splitting of an Antarctic ice shelf,
three polar hurricanes descending southward across Europe and North America.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Jack
Hall (Dennis Quaid), a paleoclimatologist studying ice samples from the past,
predicts the disaster. But of course the political leadership in the person of
the Vice President (Kenneth Welsh credibly imitating the man I like to think of
as the late Dick Cheney) dismisses him with all the arrogance of ignorance.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Multiplying
more rapidly and extensively than even Quaid predicts, the virtually
simultaneous catastrophes destroy hundreds of cities and kill millions of
people. A great tidal wave swamps New York City, where Quaid’s son Sam (Jake
Gyllenhaal) is participating in an academic competition, which thus turns the
movie from a disaster film into a survival story. When the rapid temperature
drop flash freezes all life in a matter of seconds, and Quaid and two of his
colleagues journey from Washington to Manhattan to save his son, holed up in
the New York Public Library, it then also turns into a rescue flick.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย A
couple of personal stories play out against the background of the great
disaster, one involving Quaid and his estranged wife (Sela Ward), the other Sam
and the young woman he longs for (Emmy Rossum). In a Hollywood tradition even
older than disaster flicks, both ooze the usual slick cuteness and
sentimentality, and any viewer will guess how both turn out.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
director interweaves the stories, showing Sam, his schoolmates, and scores of
New Yorkers attempting to survive the floods and the cold in the library.
Sadly, they burn books to keep warm, for some reason neglecting all the chairs,
desks, and tables in the grand reading room. In a nice touch, one librarian
saves the Gutenberg Bible, the first printed book, in order to preserve one of
the greatest achievements of civilization.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย While
Sam and his crowd shiver among the books, Jack and his friends, experienced in
coping with Antarctic conditions, struggle through the ice, snow, and wind,
first in a truck, then on foot, dragging their sleds. At the same time the
picture now and then shows the courage of Jack’s wife, a physician, who chooses
to stay in the hospital with her patient, a child suffering from cancer, rather
than risk his life in an attempt to escape.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Despite
those noble and inspiring stories, the special effects necessarily constitute
the actual substance of the movie: the mammoth storms, the devastating
tornadoes, the fantastically accelerated freezing, the great tidal wave all
display the derangement of climate on a massive scale.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
real star of the film, however, is New York City, its universally recognizable
skyline inundated, the Empire State Building half sunk in water, the Statue of
Liberty bravely lifting her torch above the waves, a huge freighter floating up
Fifth Avenue, and one of the world’s great libraries serving symbolically and
actually as a haven for a threatened civilization.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย With
the late Dick Cheney and his notorious energy task force in operation, those
fantastic images may someday become fact and this disaster film will become a
sort of prophetic documentary.
The Day After Tomorrow (PG-13),
starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Ian Holm, Dash Mihok, Sela
Ward, Jay O. Sanders, Jared Harris, Rick Hoffman, Kenneth Welsh, Perry King;
written by Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff; directed by Roland Emmerich.
Cinemark Tinseltown, Loews Webster, Pittsford Plaza Cinema, Regal Culver Ridge,
Regal Eastview, Regal Greece Ridge, Regal Henrietta.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2004.
