A review of
Forces of Nature

A Giant-Screen Film at
Strasenburgh Planetarium,
Rochester Museum & Science Center
2005

By Debra Ross, Publisher, KidsOutAndAbout.com
Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Some nature-oriented movies that I have seen with my kids describe Nature in a holier-than-thou, or at least holier-than-human, way. You know the kind I mean: Their purpose is to portray the natural world as a fragile balance that is at war with human achievement; that the technology grownups have developed is destroying our world; and that unless kids do something to stop the evil grownups, we will all be at the mercy of who-knows-what kind of horrors. Those types of films have an activist, rather than a scientific, purpose.

Forces of Nature isn't like that at all. Rather, it's the reverse: Humans are at the mercy of forces of nature that, at least with our current technology, can't be altered or harnessed; these forces have the potential to wreak havoc on human civilization. In this film, the heros are scientists who use their ever-increasing knowlege and technological capacities to pinpoint when and where these forces -- in this case, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tornadoes -- will strike, so as to be able to preserve human lives and property. The subtext -- that human lives and property are worth preserving -- was a refreshing change from gloom-and-doom environmentalism.

This is science in its most exciting form, although some of the film's graphic imagery of the aftermath of the disasters may disturb children who are old enough to understand destruction but young enough that they find it difficult to absorb with equanimity. (For example, my 5-year-old was a bit horrified about how the city was destroyed by the earthquake; later, she needed reassurance that it can't happen anywhere near where she lives. My 4-year-old, on the other hand, saw the footage and said, impressed, "Wow. That village needs help!")

In my opinion, the volcano section was the most informative of the three, but only by a small margin. The film provides the perfect amount of detail about how volcanoes form, and what happens before, during, and after an eruption. We visit with a team of volcanologists (on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean), and learn about the technology they are developing to gather information about when the volcano will erupt. The eruption footage is stunning.

The sections on earthquakes and tornadoes were equally fascinating, although perhaps visually not as engaging, mostly because there's not much to see in an earthquake, and it's difficult to get good footage of a tornado given that it doesn't stand still like a mountain.

We saw Pulse: A STOMP Odyssey, which played at Strasenburgh for almost a year before it ended its recent run, 11 times. While we won't be making Forces of Nature a regular Saturday afternoon feature, we'll probably see it once or twice more, because it is definitely a worthwhile production.

Those who are interested in these topics should make sure to visit the Forces of Nature web site. This is a terrific interactive and educational site that will reinforce the ideas presented in the movie; you can tell that the National Geographic folks put a lot of thought into it.

Tickets for Forces of Nature, which is free for RMSC members, are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $6 for children. It is playing at the Rochester Museum & Science Center's Strasenburgh Planetarium through the summer and into the fall. In October, it becomes the secondary feature when a new film opens. If you aren't an RMSC member, we recommend a combination Museum/Planetarium pass, which is a good value at $11 for adults and $7 for children.

©Debra Ross, 2005
All rights reserved.