The Twister: Caught In The Storm

[DanaK]

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Netflix documentary premieres March 19 2025

In May 2011, a massive tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri. With pulse-pounding firsthand footage, this documentary goes inside a deadly twister.

Press release http://thefutoncritic.com/video/2025/02/20/video-the-twister-caught-in-the-storm-official-trailer-netflix-143414/20250220netflix04/

Trailer

 

Edited February 20 by DanaK

[Annber03]

Ooooooh, I'll have to watch this. I love weather documentaries, especially tornado-related ones. 

[Annber03]

Just watched this. Pretty good, it was interesting to hear all the varied perspectives from the people who were high schoolers at the time this happened. The whole thing of all the jokes about a supposed coming apocalypse were an interesting way to frame the whole setup, too, especially given this is Bible Belt country and people talking about the end of the world coming in 2012 and all that that was going on around that time. The student at the graduation talking about waiting for something big to happen...boy, did he get that and then some that day.

I've seen many documentaries about the Joplin tornado over the years, and I still cannot get over how incredibly monstrous and massive that thing was. The footage of the sky being so green and then turning full on black as night was horrifying, as was the footage of the actual tornado itself ripping through the city. I remember the day this hit very clearly, 'cause we here in Iowa had a chance of severe storms that day as well, so I'd been tuned to weather stuff for our area throughout the day, and when I got home from work I immediately flipped on the Weather Channel to see how things were doing here (fortunately, our area seemed to escape the worst of the bad weather that day).  

And that's when I saw the coverage from Jopllin - the tornado had just gone through the area by the time I started watching. I remember the clips of Mike Bettes reporting from the city and getting visibly choked up on camera, and like stated in the documentary, that really clued me in that this was not just your typical scenario with these kinds of storms, that the devastation here was especially significant. The fact this storm was getting coverage in other parts of the world as well just really drives home how serious the whole thing was. And then the death toll on top of it all...161 people, that's a rather big chunk of your townspeople to lose. 

The fact this tornado happened a mere month after the horrific outbreak in the southeastern U.S. just added to the unease of everything, and it really does explain why some kinda had these apocalyptic feelings about them, religious or otherwise. I really appreciated the nod at the end of the documentary to the fact that htese kinds of devastating and catastrophic events will become even more commonplace with climate change being what it is. Unfortunately, too many people still refuse to heed the warnings*.

As for the individuals themselves, good lord, Stephen surviving as he did after all of that is incredible. I do remember hearing a bit about some people getting a rare infection after this, so I appreciate that they interviewed someone who'd gone through it. I'm so sorry he had to go through all of that and that hsi body had to go through everything it did to help him recover. But I admire his wry sense of humor about everything, and seeing him with his family and talking about how happy he was to be a dad was really sweet and touching. 

Same with Cecil - his fear that this was some kind of rapture situation and he'd been left behind because he was gay was genuinely heartbreaking. What an awful thing for a teenager to have to worry about and believe. I'm so glad he was able to eventually come out and be comfortable with himself and who he is, and I love how he's helping other young LGBTQ+ who are in his shoes. I also liked him making a point to save everyone at his workplace and getting all the customers there to safety as he did. He's a true hero. 

The story about Kaylee and her friends was intense, too, being caught in the storm as they were. Typical behavior for people here in this part of the country, to want to go check out the storms as they come in, but yeah, they defintely took a big gamble doing that. I don't blame any of them for having some PTSD after going through all of that, I don't know how one could not. I liked Kaylee talking about how she found her confidence after everything - I was impressed at hearing about the studies she took in school and I'm glad that she was able to make a good life for herself because of all of that. 

Chad's story...god, I related so much to him, as a fellow weather nerd who also watched the Weather Channel regularly as a kid, just for the fun of it, and who would (and still does) watch the weather like a hawk on days when bad storms were coming. He had a lot more motivation than I did at parlaying that into a career in the meteroology field, though, so respect for that. That's really cool that he was able to help out at the Joplin news station - and what a way to get a crash course in all of that! 

The reactions of the other people at that diner, though...like, yeah, I grew up in Iowa, in Tornado Alley, I'm well aware of how blase people here can often be about storms, even when the sirens are going off, I get that it's such a routine thing that it's easy to just shrug it off after a while...

...but even so, for god's sakes, people, when the sirens go off, get the hell to a shelter. If nothing happens? Great, no worries. But if you get a Joplin situation unfolding? Better safe than sorry, I say. 

*(The footage of Obama speaking to the graduating class and cheering them on and wanting to meet them and shake their hands was awesome and very cool, and yet it also had me letting out a very sad, wistful sigh. But that's a whole other topic unto itself.)

The story about Will was heartbreakingly sad. How awful. 

Anywho, yeah, this was a good documentary and I appreciated getting to hear about the various ways this storm touched so many people's lives and the impact it had on them and the town in general. 

[Maisiesmom]

I saw this also and thought it was well done. The young people were very brave in trying to help others through this horrible nightmare. I myself have a phobia about tornadoes due to my mom having been in 3 different ones (including the F-5 that hit Flint/Beecher in 1953) so I have always insisted my home have a basement or storm cellar where I can take shelter. When the weather gets bad here I am always watching the sky and if I see rolling clouds or a green sky I have a bug out bag to grab and take down with me. God Bless those who survived and also those who didn't. I hope I never have to have that kind of thing happen to me.

[Annber03]

Wow, your mom experienced three tornadoes in her lifetime? Dang. Im glad she made it through them all okay. I think I saw a documentary once about that Flint/Beecher one, yeah. It seemed like that one kinda took people by surprise. 

I've always found tornadoes fascinating to study and read about, but yeah, I'm not exactly eager to experience one firsthand. Sadly, despite living in Tornado Alley, a lot of the homes I've lived in don't have basements (that's what happens when you mostly live in apartments or trailer parks), but even then, I've still always had a safe place to go to take shelter when need be - another, sturdier building or a relative's home or something of that sort. 

And at my workplace, we're already in the basement level and my office alone could make for a perfect shelter to hide in if need be. 

1 hour ago, Maisiesmom said:

The young people were very brave in trying to help others through this horrible nightmare. 

I really liked the story about the guy who went out with his EMT dad to start rescuing people immediately after the tornado passed. The audio clips of the rescue personnel worrying about not being able to get through because of all the destruction were heartbreaking to listen to. As was the audio from the local news station when they went off the air and could no longer try and warn people of the oncoming storm. 

(That footage from the camera outside the news station, though, of the tornado barreling through town. Wow, that was chilling.)