Movie: San Andreas

San Andreas is a disaster movie of epic proportions that delivers in just about every way except for being grounded in scientific fact. This won't matter to most movie goers who aren't expecting realism in disaster movies; they go to be entertained and San Andreas does that very well. It follows the formula of many disaster movies; a main character (the hero) who has some sort of personal (ongoing) tragedy, superseded by a terrible disaster that proves the hero's true worth and helps resolve the crisis in his/her life. Add in today's remarkable special effects and you have the making of an entertaining blockbuster.

San Andreas begins by establishing helicopter-rescue pilot, Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson), as an exceptional member of the Los Angeles Fire Department when he and his team go to rescue a young woman who has driven off a highway. On board the group have a reporter and her cameraman who are shadowing the rescue. As expected, the rescue does not going according to plan, when a member of the team becomes pinned by the car and the helicopter begins running out of fuel. Cue Ray to save the day, rescuing both the girl and his fellow team member.

Back at home we learn that Ray is in the middle of a divorce from his wife Emma (Carla Gugino) who is involved with weathly real estate developer, Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffud). Ray contacts his daughter, Blake, about their trip up to San Francisco and drives to pick her up at Riddick's home. There he learns that Emma has decided to move in with Daniel, crushing any hopes Ray had of reuniting with his estranged wife. Ray is called into work and this results in Daniel driving Blake to San Francisco while Emma meets Daniel's sister, Susan for lunch.

Meanwhile at Caltech, seismologist Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) is informed by his colleague, Dr. Kim Park (Will Yun Lee) that they may have had a breakthrough in being able to predict earthquakes using electromagnetic pulses. They notice that there have been some pulses near the Hoover Dam in Arizona and decide to travel there. It turns out they are correct and a major 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits the area, destroying the dam and killing Dr. Park.

When they return to Caltech, Hayes discovers that the earthquakes in Arizona have triggered instability along the San Andreas fault. Soon earthquakes begin occurring all along the San Andreas fault beginning in Los Angeles. The earthquake in Los Angeles destroys the tower Emma is in. In desperation, she calls Ray who asks her where she is and he tells her to get to the roof where he can see her. While others are racing down to the street Emma races to the rooftop only to be thrown back several floors as the tremors continue. Eventually she makes it to the top of a crumbling, burning building and is barely rescued by Ray in time. In his damaged helicopter they race to San Francisco to find Blake.

Meanwhile Blake arrives in San Francisco with Daniel and waits for him in the lobby at his office tower. During this time she meets two visitors, Ben who is getting ready for an interview and his kid brother, Ollie. Ben leaves and Daniel returns to take Blake to her destination. However, as they are driving out of the parking garage, an earthquake strikes, sending the car crashing into the lower levels, killing the driver and trapping Blake. Unable to free her, Daniel tells her he is going for help and races up to the lobby. Blake is able to talk to her father and tells him she is trapped in the garage of Daniel's office building. He tells her he is coming to get her.

However, a second shock hits and Daniel sees a man crushed to death by falling concrete. This terrifies him so much, he abandons Blake to her fate. Fortunately for Blake, Ben has overheard Daniel screaming for someone to help him free a girl in the underground parkade and he and Ollie race to find Blake. Through some ingenuity, they manage to free Blake and the three decide they need to get to a land line and call her father to let him know she is safe. Ray tells Blake to go to the highest point, the Coit Tower where they will meet. More quakes continue and Blake realizes that going to Coit Tower will not work. Instead she tells Ben and Ollie they need to find the highest safe place where her dad in his helicopter can see them. However unknown to Blake, Ray and Emma have had to abandon the helicopter and must now find another way to reach San Francisco. Seismologist Lawrence Hayes warns the public that a more deadly, catastrophic earthquake is about to happen in San Francisco - the largest ever.  Can Ray and Emma rescue Blake, Ben and Ollie in time?

Discussion

Directed by Brad Peyton, San Andreas is crammed with special effects and almost continuous heartstopping action. Performances by Johnson and Gugino are sufficient to keep viewers invested in their story, even though it's predictable. The disaster brings  the couple together and forces them to confront the unspoken issue between them - the death of their daughter. They are finally able to discuss how the her death by drowning affected both of them, breaking down their marriage and leading Emma to leave.

The special effects are what make the movie; crumbling skyscrapers, buckling swaths of cities, bursting dams, collapsing bridges, falling debris, and a massive tsunami that makes the Japan tsunami look small by comparison. Dwayne Johnson, with his wrestler physique has undeniable screen presence and an easy going, protector kind of image that is appealing. He's a capable hero, easily moving from crack helicopter pilot to hot-wiring stolen vehicles, to navigating a speedboat to the top of a massive tsunami while dodging containers falling from a ship and its whirling propellers. At the beginning of all of the mayhem, strangely Ray is never contacted by his unit as to his location and asked to report back to Los Angeles.

Equally adept in this movie, is Blake Gaines who keeps a cool head and uses her knowledge she's picked up from her rescue-worker father. She knows cell phones won't work and looks for a land line and she understands that safety during a tsunami means getting to higher ground fast - in this case going to higher floors in a building. She's a strong character in the movie who earns praise from Ben and Ollie.

San Andreas from a earth sciences point of view is not accurate in any way. First of all seismologists estimate that the largest earthquake that could occur along the San Andreas fault is a magnitude 8.0, many magnitudes less that that portrayed in the movie. As the San Andreas fault is a strike-slip fault it could not generate a tsunami and definitely not the massive one portrayed in the film. Seismologists also have no sure way of predicting with any certainty the timing or magnitude of an earthquake anywhere on the planet.  Although earthquakes do occur in Nevada, it's unlikely they would trigger quakes along the San Andreas fault. In the movie, having ditched their helicopter and stolen an Ford truck, Ray and Emma travel north to San Francisco but are stopped by an enormous crevasse which is supposed to be the San Andreas fault. It's quite unlikely that such a huge and extensive fissure would form at the surface, even after a quake of magnitude 9.6. 

The movie also ignores what is probably the main dangers from a large earthquake along the San Andreas fault and that is fire and landslides. As in the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, a large earthquake would cause broken gas lines and large fires that could sweep through entire city neighborhoods.

In spite of these glaring inaccuracies, common to disaster movies, this is a fun, entertaining movie that everyone can enjoy provided you just take the story at face value. Stay to watch the credits and listen to Sia's version of "California dreamin".

Documentary: Unravel

"You tend to get dressed for other people.
But at the end of the day you'll be as beautiful as God made you.
All people have a natural beauty."

Unravel is a short documentary produced and directed by Meghna Gupta about the garment recyclers in Northern India. The unwanted and discarded clothing from Western countries is shipped to Panipat, the only city in the world that takes this clothing and is recycled. But more interesting than that are the people of Panipat whose only knowledge about Westerners comes from watching The Discovery Channel.

The documentary is approximately fourteen minutes long and follows the clothes as they arrive in large shipping containers in the Kutch District, Western India. From there the containers are taken through Customs and then to a warehouse where all the clothes are slashed so they are not resold. The clothing is then driven 719 miles to the northern city of Panipat where the garments are further broken down, put through various machinery to be made into thread and then into blankets.

What stands out though in the film is how little the garment workers, who are mostly women, in Kutch and Panipat know about Western culture and the inferences they make about Westerners based on the clothing they see come through their warehouses. Some of the clothes are extremely large, others very new or very scant. One woman holds up a one piece bathing suit and is amazed that this is the entire outfit. Some of the clothing, like a white wedding dress is just too intriguing not to be tried on. Other garments are beautiful but too immodest to be considered wearable.

Based on the clothing they see, the garment slashers in Kutch assume that Westerners are very wealthy, cannot wash their clothes because water must be very costly or simply don't like to wash their clothing. One woman states that they believe there is a water shortage in the West. In Panipat, Reshma and the other garment workers muse about the clothing they find in the bundles. Here the women remove the buttons and zippers from all the clothing and further break down the pieces where they are sent to the Rag Machine and then to the Teaser Machine. From there everything goes to the Card Machine and then to the Spinning Frame which turns the fibre into rolls of yarn.

Sorting through mounds of Western clothing. Image Soul Rebel Films.

Several things stand out from this short. First and foremost was the beautiful clothing the garment recyclers themselves wore; sari's of deep reds and oranges, pale yellows and rich blues and greens, often embellished with decorations and embroidery. Secondly their happy dispositions and industriousness remarkably in contrast to the hard work and dusty warehouses. Thirdly, the sheer volume of clothing that passes through the factories - a nod to the extreme consumerism of the Western world and its obsession with clothing. The quote at the top of the page is from Reshma's husband. If only westerners would take his wisdom to heart.

Unravel has won numerous awards from many film festivals. It's a window into a world most Westerners do not know exists. And if you've ever wondered where all that terrible clothing from Walmart goes, well now you know.

Movie: Mr. Turner

This independent film, by English director, Mike Leigh, explores the last twenty-five years of arguably the greatest British painter, J.M.W.Turner. Joseph Mallard William Turner was born in 1775 to William Turner, a barber and wig maker. His mother suffered from mental illness and was eventually hospitalized. Her illness led to Turner being sent away to school. The senior Turner encouraged his son's artistic talent early on and his earliest drawings were sometimes sold from his father's barbershop.

Turner gained admittance to the Royal Academy schools in 1789 and advanced through them studying various art mediums. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1790 through to 1796. Turner often painted in water colours but he also mastered oil. His first exhibited oil painting was Fishermen at Sea. He was elected an Associate of the Academy in 1799 and an Academician in 1802.

Turner travelled all throughout England - Yorkshire and the Lake Distric as well as Wales, with the intent of improving his craft. During the Treaty of Amiens, in which the hostilities between the England and the French Republic ceased, Turner was able to travel to Paris and into the Alps and Switzerland. The Napoleonic Wars interrupted his travels on the continent but he did eventually travel to Italy in 1819. His travels in Italy, especially Venice, were to have a profound effect on his art.  He focused on the grandeur and violent power of nature, painting storms, avalanches, volcanic eruptions and fires.  He painted numerous marine scenes and even had himself lashed to the mast of a ship so he could capture the fury of a storm in his painting Steam Boat off a Harbour's Mouth making Signals in Shallow Water and going by the Lead. This obsession with the power of nature led to a gradual evolution in his art. Instead of representing form by line, Turner gradually utilized colour and light. In this regard he was ahead of his time, resulting in the public and fellow artists alike not understanding what he was attempting to accomplish.

Turner's father lived with him for thirty years and was his studio assistant. His father passed away in 1829 and his death affected him keenly. Turner never married but was believed to be the father of two daughters, Evelina and Georgiana by Sarah Danby. He lived with his mistress, Sophia Caroline Booth in Chelsea where he died in 1851.


The film, Mr. Turner is essentially a character sketch of the artist that focuses not so much on his art, as on his personal eccentricities. Well known British actor, Timothy Spall, who portrayed the famous painter spent considerable time preparing for the role. He spent two years under the tutelage of Tim Wright who taught Spall to paint like Turner. In total, Wright had him create three hundred pieces of art. That Spall succeeded is evident in scenes where he is painting - he really does appear to be accomplish. However, the paintings seen in close ups are the work of artist Charlie Cobb while those shown in the background are prints.

The movie picks up Turner's life as a middle-aged man living with his father.  Spall captures Turner's libertine ways, common to the Georgian age which comprised most of his life.  By the Victorian age, social mores were changing and after his death, John Ruskin who went through Turner's art supposedly found a great deal of erotic art which he claimed to have destroyed.

Spall was able to accurately portray some of Turner's supposed mannerisms including his grunts and snuffles that he was known to make while painting, although sometimes it was difficult to understand the dialogue between the accent and the grunts and snorts.

At times Mr. Turner lags; the pacing is slow through most of the movie, picking up towards the end. Leigh manages to show a Turner who is focused on his art, traveling about the country, sketching constantly, involved in the Academy and even lecturing. His housekeeper's declining health is well shown as we see Hannah who suffered from psoriasis, which was a greatly misunderstood condition in the 19th century, shunned and at a complete loss at his death.


This movie is Restricted in Canada mainly due to its somewhat limited, but graphic sexual content. Turner is shown visiting a brothel and there is also other sexual content in the movie.

Mr. Turner will definitely appeal to those interested in either the artist or the art of film and so it's likely your best bet to catch it before it goes to DVD is through film clubs.