It’s very rare that I recommend a movie, but, in this post, I am recommending not one, but two YouTube videos to watch and learn from – both good advice/actions and bad advice/actions in each. Your challenge is to figure out what’s good and what’s not. I will tell you that in the Yellowstone movie, there is some absolutely deadly advice given at about 54 minutes in. What is it, and why is it deadly?

Both have depictions of serious injuries and deaths, and can be upsetting because of that.

Both, as you might guess for movies dealing with disasters, have some language –  especially taking the Lord’s name in vain. I don’t normally recommend movies with this kind of language because I personally find it very offensive, however, I feel there is much of value that can be learned from both of these movies, and, I have found it valuable to have the graphic portrayals of the effects – good and bad – of people’s choices and preparations versus lack of preparations.

I’ve taught the preparedness principles (and many more) depicted in these movies for quite a few years, but nothing other than living through a disaster seems to reach out and shake people into acting quite like seeing the sad effects of not preparing and not staying aware of your situation compared to the better outcomes of those who have prepared and remained situationally aware, to the extent possible.

In no particular order the movies are:

Supervolcano (about Yellowstone):

and The Great Los Angeles Earthquake:

Personally, I benefited most from watching each of them straight through once, then going through again, stopping and analyzing both advice and actions as good/bad, wise/unwise/deadly-STUPID, and trying to weigh what I was seeing against what I know of principles of surviving disasters to see if maybe I could come up with some better ways to handle things. One result of that has been the observation, from both the movies and television coverage of real disasters, that disasters are usually very dusty. That means I should have something with me at all times that I can use to filter the air I’m breathing since I don’t know when a disaster may strike. There are other lessons to be learned. That is just one example of a potential take-away that can be applied on a personal and family level.

If you watch these movies and learn something from them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.