Flood

Rating:
Summary: Must Have, Must See
Review: I found this movie to be a real tearjerker. I was touched as well as everyone that I saw it with.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile portrayal of a tragic event
Review: This was a made for TV movie shown around 1993 that was a portrayal of a tragedy in 1987 in the Hill Country of Texas. A group of teenagers and their sponsors were leaving a summer camp in July of 1987 when their bus was suddenly overrun with overflow from a river, and some of the kids were swept away in the current when they tried to make it back to the shore. 10 young people died in this event, including one who's body has never been found. The event itself has touched me in a number of ways, and the reason for that is unclear. I did not know any of the kids, adults, or families involved. But I've felt a need to learn as much as I could about this event, including visiting the site of the accident while on vacation last year. That leads me to some criticism of the movie itself.

I understand that in movies, even true events are not always depicted as they occurred. The producers need to produce an artistic work that is, under any definition, entertaining. What bothers me is there was a great deal of editorial licensing, or changing of the facts, and in many cases, the changes were unnecessary. They added nothing to the film, and possibly put a stain on the name of some of those responsible for the youth.

For example, the movie shows the bus driving into a flowing stream. Then as the bus stalls, the stream gets bigger and faster, and the kids are removed and many are swept away. The only true part of this was the kids getting off the bus and being swept away. In fact, the bus drove immediately outside the gate of the encampment, and was hit with a flank of rushing water less than 100 feet or so away from the gate. Its hard to understand if you haven't been to the site, but when I saw it last summer, I immediately could see what the reports of what happened were saying. As one report said, the accident happened solely due to lousy timing, or the bus being in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. Had the bus left the gate just a few seconds earlier, it would have missed the rushing water, and would have safely made it across the bridge. Had it been there seconds later, the driver would have seen the water he didn't see before, and would not have attempted to drive into it. The movie shows a convoy of buses and vans driving for several minutes, perhaps even miles, before coming upon a running river crossing that has overflowed, and they attempt to cross. That isn't what happened. First, there was a single truck, followed by one bus and one van. Second, the water flanked up quickly instead of rose out of a flowing stream. I say all this to say that the bus driver, Richard Koons, played by Joe Spano, has taken some unfair criticism for his role in the event, when in fact, he is a hero for getting the kids off the bus as fast as he did.

Other things in the movie bothered me immensely. At the opening, the teen who was the ultimate hero (who's body was never found) is shown sneaking away from the camp with a few friends smoking. From all I've read, there's no indication that happened. Even though the producers changed the name of the young man involved (perhaps because of their depiction of events), that was unnecessary. The other thing is the thick drawled accents of most of the girls in the movie, and virtually all the parents. The church where the kids were from is located in Balch Springs, not more than about 15-18 miles from downtown Dallas. Although I don't get to that area a bunch, most people I've ran into in that area don't have such thick accents, certainly not like in the movie. I'm afraid the producers made too many characters into hicks just for entertainment value, and to me, that's over the top.

The movie draws out the emotion of the event well. The acting (other than whats mentioned) is good. I don't think the movie does as good of a job as making the young man who was never found into as much of a hero as he really was. He literally helped several kids to safety before he was last seen. Former President Bush awarded him a civilian medal a couple of years after the event.

In spite of its flaws, I strongly recommend this DVD.