St. Helens

With its low-key acting, and real, believable characters, this film was a superb re-enactment of what became a nightmare for those closest to it. At first, no one is able to believe what is predicted to be coming. Gradually, the reality becomes inescapable. Art Carney, as Harry S. Truman, is completely believable, and understandable, as a man set in his ways and content with his life, unwilling to run away and perhaps unable to comprehend the totality of the disaster that is looming. How very human! We would all like terribly realities to go away, but often they are worse even than the forecasts. In light of 9/11, the poignancy of the human relationships in this film is even greater. We are so vulnerable in the face of many of the events of life, and the most important things we have to cling to are each other, and our relationships to the people we love, and to life itself. A haunting, under-rated film.