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Movie Review: Flood

Yesterday, I watched the movie Flood which released in 2007. It is typically a disaster movie based on flooding of London city. The movie starts with a storm surge striking the east coast of Scotland and it was advancing further down. There is little ambiguity whether or not it is possible to detect if a storm surge will hit a particular place. As the head of the English Met department said, it may not be possible to predict what a storm surge may do when it is traveling that fast. In another some moment London was on the brink of lashed by huge waves during high tide and the Thames river barrier may not be able to save London. While all this going a person prof. Morrison lands called up telling the condition could be much more serious. This movie did interested me as I was able to connect to the barrier technology and flood control techniques. Well, I am no barrier engineer but I have a documentary on how the Dutch use various barrier technologies at river mouth, dikes etc and it looked amazing to me.

The movie has some compelling visuals. I think most of the heading of the storm surge has been computer graphics. But there were a few other touchy scenes too. Robert Carlyle is the best English barrier engineer, is working there along with his wife. When the Thames barrier was overwhelmed, Prof. Morrison was present there. They all along with the center head was trying to get the top of the barrier platform. Prof. Morrison and the center head was trying to open a door and as soon as the door open a rush of water struck them punching them behind. In the process the center head was dead after a a road went past his body. On the top of the platform of the barrier when Robert Carlye ask his father and wife to jump to volatile water or they will die. The most touchy was when one of the underground tube worker was washed away by gushing water and his fellow worker was stunned that he could not save him. This film tries to show a few things about disaster management. You can see images which one may not even think in their wildest imagination like the millennium done in neck deep water.

Lastly, in order to stop the advancing of gushing water prof. Morrison devised a plan to close the sewage channels and open the barrier. There was fear that the barrier may not be working more, in that case closing the sewage lines means more water. But to assure the authorities he was sending his son and daughter in law to the barrier. At last himself went there. He was one very touchy scene when his Rob Morrison was urging to go inside to open the barrier, his wife wont let him as that would mean let him go to die. There was another drama playing out with army suspecting that this plan may not work and was advocating to blow up the barrier. Jet fighters were dispatched for this job and were aborted at the last minute when the barrier started opening. On watching his prof. Morrison simply took the tools and went inside and looked the door. Prof. Morrison lost his life but saved many parts of London. This movie has been hit to an extent because of this following in real life as UK was hit by floods in the summer of 2007 due to torrential rain.

It is a good watch. I give a thumps up. Btw, the official website of the movie Flood is not working.