This feature-length Netflix documentary recounts the extraordinarily sudden and hugely destructive 2011 Missouri tornado that ripped apart the town of Joplin on its annual graduation day through eyewitness accounts of largely then-teenagers and a remarkable mix of footage from the actual event itself. Without any preamble, it gets straight to business, setting up the town of Joplin and the students of its high school whose graduation was taking place that fateful afternoon plus other residents in this combination of a Bible Belt and Tornado Alley community. The combination of very direct personal accounts and raw POV phone and CCTV footage is engrossing and at times makes you forget to breathe when the massive tornado hits. The occasional CGI/slo-mo recreation shots are a little jarring, but this does not undermine the powerful immediacy of the real-life footage. This is not showing the glossy, distanced tornadoes of the movies, as it relates the very (terrifying) personal and human impact of the event both at the time and subsequently. The last hour is perhaps the toughest to watch emotionally, with its mixture of great sadness and powerful hope for the future in this generally well-constructed documentary.
No comments:
Post a Comment