Title: Red River of Life (2004; unrated)
Producer: Moody Science Classics
Major Themes: Science, Blood
Synopsis: Blood is our lifeline—but how much do you actually know about it? Watch this fascinating video to find out, and stand in awe at our God who designed it!
The last in our personal collection of Moody Science Classics, Red River of Life is another interesting movie about science and how God perfectly designed our bodies. Personally, I didn’t find this movie quite as good as the first two, The Mystery of the Three Clocks and Where the Waters Run, but it still shared some fascinating facts, and I’d like to watch it again sometime.
Our blood moves at tremendous speeds around our bodies, all pumped faithfully year after year by our hearts. Through animations, we get to go inside the heart and see what it looks like—and then the teacher, Dr. Irwin A. Moon, shows a real heart beating (one donated for research purposes), and explains how it works.
The fact I found most interesting was how the blood removes toxic carbon dioxide from our bodies. The gas is first hydrated to form carbonic acid, but that is still dangerous to the blood stream, so the acid has to be instantly neutralized. In order to do this, the blood uses potassium, which is a very fast-acting acid fighter. After being neutralized, it’s okay to go into the blood stream, and after mixing with the salt and plasma in the blood, it creates baking soda (yes, baking soda)! Once the baking soda gets to the lungs, and since we can’t exhale baking soda, the red blood cell basically reverses the process, and we exhale carbon dioxide. And all this has to happen in less than a split second. Amazing!
All in all, Red River of Life is still a fascinating film, even if it isn’t quite as gripping as some of the others. I really appreciated the spiritual lesson shared at the end, too—showing how the blood of Jesus Christ is the source of life in the Spirit. Without that blood, we can’t breathe any better than we can without our hearts. God truly is the master designer, and knows exactly what we need, doesn’t He? This is a great family film, and would also be good to go along with a study of the human body.
No warnings!
Appropriate ages:
Ages 10 – 12, 12 – 15, 15 and Above, Adults, Family Friendly
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