Hot air over cold facts in Day After...

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">It might seem cruel talking about snow falling on New Delhi when the city is reeling under 45 deg C heat and power outages right now, but that''s how the movie <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Day After Tomorrow</span>, Hollywood''s latest dekko at disaster zone in the great tradition of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Towering Inferno, Poseidon Adventure, Jurassic Park</span> etc, begins.<br /><br />At a conference of climatologists in New Delhi (an appropriate venue, given our hospitable climes), a wild-eyed American scientist, probably punished by power cuts and mosquito bites the previous night, warns of a catastrophic global warming scenario that melts a country-sized ice cap to bring rapid climate changes across the world. <br /><br />A man who looks suspiciously like US vice-president Dick Cheney sneers at him. But before he can say when-hell-freezes over, there''s snow fluttering over Red Fort, giant hailstones are smashing down on the streets of Tokyo, and tsunamis are rushing towards Manhattan. <br /><br />We won''t give away the ending, but suffice to say Roland Emmerich''s new movie previous offerings, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Independence Day</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Godzilla</span> — has kicked up quite a storm in the US in this season of hurricanes and tornados. Environmental propagandists are milking the movie till it moos to advance their cause — and budgets. But scientists and meteorologists are deriding its imbecile-calibre science. <br /><br />Either way, it''s this summer''s most talked about movie pending arrival of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Fahrenheit 9/11F</span>, generating not just heat and light, but also turbulence, tidal waves, snow storms, and an ice age that descends on the planet so rapidly that you are frozen on your way to the exit. <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />Critics have panned the movie for its preposterous assumptions. One publication actually had a few scientists sit through the movie and recorded their critiques. A meteorologist has said the events shown in the film can happen ''''when all three laws of thermodynamics are repealed.'''' An oceanographer has said the only way to create the sort of Gulf Stream collapse fantasised in the film would be ''''either to turn off the wind system, or to stop the Earth''s rotation, or both.'''' <br /><br />The movie''s special effects director, who will probably win an Oscar for his efforts, would probably ask both of them to take a flying leap of the face of the planet. <br /><br />But the one redeeming feature of the film that loses its way in a maudlin sub-plot, occurs two-thirds of the way to the predictable ending. As the Ice Age descends over the Northern Hemisphere, Americans rush in droves towards the Mexican border. Hundreds dash across the Rio Grande River and cross over illegally into Mexico in an ironic reversal of what is currently happening. Mexican guards stop them in the face of entreaties and $100 bills. Mexico closes its borders to Americans. <br /><br />Someone one gets the feeling this is the part that will get the applause outside the United States. Wonder why.</div> </div>