Reviewed by Andrew Wooding

The Day After Tomorrow
Director: Roland Emmerich (2004)
Distributor: 20^th Century Fox International (UK).  Certificate: 12A

Be warned: this is a chilling film, in more ways than one! Not least because it has a certain ring of truth about it. As opposed to Independence Day, also directed by Roland Emmerich - which was a science fiction film about alien invasion - this time the threat is entirely earth-based and of mankind’s own making.

Ironically, because of global warming the earth is about to enter its second ice age. Only the climatologist Professor Jack Hall (played by Dennis Quaid) knows the full extent of what is about to happen, but will he able to convince mankind in time? Also, will he manage to rescue his son, Sam Hall, from Manhattan, New York, which has been flooded and completely covered in ice?

It is doubtful whether the effects of global warming would happen quite so quickly in real life, nor quite so unexpectedly. But it seems that scientific accuracy isn’t the main concern of the film makers. The film ends with an impassioned speech from the President of America, humbly admitting that the Western world goofed with their environmental policies, and that we should never make the same mistake again. This speech serves as a warning to all of us not to abuse the earth’s ecological system and to play our part in caring for the world.

THROUGH THE LENS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH 

Some key themes: People need to care for the environment; a father’s love for his son.

There is a song by Don Henley from The Eagles with the following words: “In a New York minute, anything could change.” Well, this is certainly demonstrated in this film. One minute, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are going about their everyday lives – the next they are bombarded with giant hailstones, terrorised by tornadoes and completely engulfed in a horrendous tidal wave which then freezes, killing millions and rendering New York completely uninhabitable.

Maybe this is too much of a fantastic concept for us to get our heads around, but try to apply the title of the film to your own life: The Day After Tomorrow. Do you know what’s going to happen to you the day after tomorrow? Do you really know? Maybe something unexpected will turn up and change it completely – a job redundancy, flooding, an accident, anything. Where is your security? Is it in the day-to-day routine, or is it in God who the Bible says is the same from age to age?

Jesus told the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock, and the foolish man who built his house on the sand (Luke 6 v 46-49). The parable is clear. Have you built the security of your life on things that could perish or disappear the day after tomorrow? Or is your security in someone who will never disappear or perish?

In the film, Professor Jack Hall showed that he had the right idea. In the end, his security wasn’t in his possessions or his career. The most important thing in his life was his love for his son, and he was willing to risk everything in order to save him. Does this sound like God’s love for us? Or Jesus’ love for his church? Do you have this love for someone you know?

One more thing: The Bible begins with God telling humankind to look after his creation. But the Bible ends with God recognising that the world isn’t what it should be and promising that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, with no more suffering and no more tears (have a look in the first chapter of Genesis, and the last two chapters of Revelation). Until that day, we have a responsibility, straight from the mouth of God, to be responsible caretakers of the earth. Have we done a good job? If not, what can we as Christians do about it?

Have your say on the discussion forum....

• What can Christians do about the environment? Recycling? Cutting down on car travel where possible? Getting involved in political action? Any suggestions?
  
• If you had to evacuate a town due to a major disaster (as in the film), what would you take with you if you only had a minute’s warning? (One character in the film took a box of photos with him as he fled across the Mexican border. And a librarian took a treasured Bible from his rare books collection.)
  
• If you only had one day left to live, due to being trapped in a building encased in ice, what would you want to do with your last day? What would be most important to you?

To discuss this further why not leave a message of the discussion forum.