Earthquake (2016)
Leninakan, Armenian SSR, USSR, 1988. After the devastating Spitak earthquake of December 7th, Konstantin Berezhnoy, a 50-year-old Russian, and Robert Melkonyan, a 28-year-old Armenian, work together to rescue the desperate survivors.
You need a movie like this at times.
To open your eyes. To remind you to live. To give you reason to appreciate what you have, take the chances you get, and never take anything for granted.
I thought I might get thrown off by the special effects, but no, they worked. They weren't perfect, but sometimes pompous, and fortunately most of the movie's real. Save for maybe the smoke and occasional top-down overviews of the carnage. The fires were nice...
The way character fates intertwine reminds me a little of Babel. Slight religious tone there too. At least for the old man. Also reminds a bit of The Day After, with the old man and the rubble, though at least here there's resolution and hope.
They got the emotion down well, and the fact that it's based on a real story... man, surprisingly good. Surprisingly gripping.
rated 4/5: fo shizzle