Steam Cloud Rising

I was a gay teenager in high school in the early 70's and lived in Harrisburg, PA during TMI. So I found it easy to identify with the characters and events in "Steam Cloud Rising".

This story does indeed capture what it was like to be a young gay person in that time period. It brought back some old emotions that I had nearly forgotten and I found myself tearing up several times during the movie.

Coming to terms with being different in a hostile society is a journey that either makes you stronger or ends in self-destruction. TMI is a perfect metaphor for the type of destruction that can occur if one chooses not to accept oneself. Thankfully, Hugh is able to find the strength to be true to himself.

If the character Hugh helps one young person make the better choice on the journey to self-discovery, "Steam Cloud Rising" will be well worth the efforts of everyone involved.

This movie is relevant on two levels. It is one of the more accurate portrayals of the pressures that are placed on kids in high school to fit in and not to vary from the accepted norm; and the punishment they face when they do dare to be different and true to themselves. Unlike other movies dealing with the same subject matter, the characters are not cartoon stereotypes and the bullying is not a series of larger than life stunts. Instead, all the students are quite realistic and harassment is rather subtle, making it understandable why it was so tolerated. The victim's resignation that life will not change for him in this town is both painful and admirable.

The other plots revolves around the conflicts and cover ups taking place at the nuclear plant on Three Mile Island that eventually led to one of the worse environmental disasters in our nation.

Intertwining the secrets involving Three Mile Island and the personal secret of Hugh, a popular high school athlete, two secrets, Spaar effectively plays out his theme that truth can be buried for only so long and the longer it is, the more explosive its eruption.

The Three Mile Island is definitely a subject worth investigating, and Spaar captures the innocence and the fear of that era beautifully. But for me, the real beauty of this lovely film was Hugh and his self-journey. Worth seeing.