Stephanie Hernandez

I hated the original Twister film, honestly, because they glorified the tornado chase far too much, and downplayed the tone put on dangers, safety, probability and post-trauma stress. I was still very young when that film came out (and I was only 5 years old/o when my family of 8 lost everything except each other on April 26, 1991 in McConnell AFB, KS to an F5 tornado-just 1 of 55 tornados documented that night. Look, I do not recall much of anything from birth to about 7 or 8 years old, but I promise you the most distinguishable night in my life was surviving that tornado with 7 other family members in a downstairs tiny guest bathroom. The last words I heard from my Mom just before it hit us was, "When you can see daylight underneath the door frame there, you’ll know we are homeless.” I say all this because the impact that one tornado night had on mr emotionally, mentally, and even physically (anxiety attacks, cramps, loose stools, crying, hard to breathe, extreme agitation and mood swings. I never asked my parents to get me any pro help, but I had grown great at “masking” and I never liked to see them worry. It took me decades to learn to control anxiety on my own without scripts, counseling or therapy, etc. I taught myself to pray, to empathize, to listen and learn before panicking, and how to help others who struggle with weather-related PTSD, that it is normal and perfectly OK to NOT be OK! All this background and emotion just to tell you… 13 minutes film from 2021 was slow to start and a bit corny a times, but then again, I feel all tornado movies' dialogue can easily get like that. It had dynamic characters of various backgrounds all residing in a SW portion of Oklahoma Southeast and on into very small snippets of Texas, etc. There was societal stereotypes and implications, misjudgments that draw others in to someone’s aura/vibe… This movie made me hold onto until the very end second, made me smile, made me thankful and made me increase my anxiousness again, but I have control now. I ugly cried the last 30 minutes a few times, and I swear I could’ve been one of those very actors in that film, 13 Minutes, that made the audience just simply FEEL, KNOW, HURT, LOSE, but also to feel HOPE, LOVE, RELIEF, and gratitude! now go watch it! Be open-minded, plz!