oscar-35
*Spoiler/plot- Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, 1995. A new documentary unbiasedly exploring the testing and development of nuclear weapons through the 40 through the times o f the nuclear test-ban treaties in the 60's.*Special Stars- Narrator: William Shatner. Professors Edward Teller & Frank H. Shelton.*Theme- New technologies must be tested and explored to find the benefits and dangers.*Trivia/location/goofs- Various locations connected with the development and tests of atomic weapons from Nevada, New Mexico, ocean of San Deigo, Marshal & Christmas Island groups.*Emotion- I lived and grew up in this era and I have been interested in this subject due to it's connection to hard science. I have seen other such films on this subject like: 'Atomic Cafe', 'Trinity', and 'Oppenhiemer Story' biopic. This film covers matters chronologically and releases previously classified Govt films never seen before in public. It provides an easy to understand and dis-passionate presentation of Atomic weapons development history to the film viewer. I was surprised to find that I had more to learn of the atomic programs of forty years ago. I was educated on the large number of atomic 'shots' accomplished and what was to be the very practical escalation of their helpful and destructive uses. I found this film fascinating, compelling, very watchable, enlightening, well paced and produced on a unique subject that still influences us today.*Based On- US Govt. declassified Department of Defense information and films.
David Wilkinson
A first-rate documentary, "Trinity and Beyond" chronicles the U.S. nuclear weapons program from the July 1945 atom bomb test in New Mexico to JFK's signing of the nuclear test ban treaty in 1963. Most of the tests conducted by the United States--including the 15 megaton "Castle Bravo," the most powerful hydrogen bomb ever detonated by the U.S.--took place in the Pacific Ocean on or near Enewetak, an atoll in the Marshall Islands. For the March 1, 1954 Castle Bravo blast, a professional film studio (Lookout Mountain Studios based at Lookout Mountain Air Force Station in L.A.) records in slow motion the palm trees smoking as they are cooked in the flash, then pulverized in the blast wave. Underwater tests like "Operation Hardtack" raise the ocean floor, followed by an eruption a la Mount St. Helens, a truly breathtaking sight.Accompanied by original music performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner's terse narration, the mesmerizing footage is put into historical context as the U.S. and U.S.S.R. race for nuclear supremacy at the height of the Cold War. As the film closes, China throws a monkey wrench into the whole affair with their first atom bomb test in 1964, hinting darkly of an uncontrollable future where the nuclear genie can't be put back into the bottle.
Jim Colyer
The Atomic Bomb Movie is a stunning film as well as an informative documentary. We are shown the development of nuclear weapons and made aware of their power. There were many tests in the years after World War II, both in the Pacific Ocean and at the Nevada Test Site. Mushroom clouds have a beauty all their own, especially when accompanied by the music of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Atmospheric tests eventually gave way to underground testing. There have been no tests at all since 1992. William Shatner narrates. This is an all star cast if there ever was one: Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, J.R. Oppenheimer and Edward Teller.
dementos
This documentary contains lots of impressive footage of atomic explosions. Those "atomic mushrooms" are frightening, yet beautiful.I just wish the whole documentary were a bit more informative. For instance, instead of showing one explosion after another, I wish they had explained the difference between a regular atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb, for instance. And what's a "thermo-nuclear" bomb? Furthermore, I was missing a more critical view of the risks of atomic weapons. The social and political implications of nuclear weapons are barely touched upon. This would have been so much more interesting than just mentioning codenames for various tests and their corresponding explosive power, measured in "kilotons" and "megatons".Where were all the ridiculous American propaganda movies (like the classic "Duck and Cover")? What about other countries with nuclear weapons programs besides the USSR and China? All in all, the whole movie casts a picture of the atomic weapons race which is too neat and uncritical.All in all, the movie feels like a new piece of American propaganda: We are the good guys ("nuclear weapons are good and necessary, and we are great because we invented them"), and they are the bad guys ("they only use those weapons to put us and the free world in danger").
AD
