| The Bomb | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Genre | Documentary film |
| Written by | Rushmore DeNooyer |
| Directed by | Rushmore DeNooyer |
| Narrated by | Jonathan Adams |
| Theme music composer | Todd Hutchisen (music editor) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | One-episode (about two-hours) |
| Production | |
| Producer | Lone Wolf Media |
| Editors | Doug Quade Ryan Shepheard |
| Running time | 114:39 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | PBS |
| Release | July 28, 2015 (2015-07-28) |
The Bomb is a 2015 Americandocumentary film about thehistory of nuclear weapons, fromtheoretical scientific considerations at the very beginning, to theirfirst use on August 6, 1945,[1][2] to theirglobal political implications in the present day.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The film was written and directed by Rushmore DeNooyer forPBS. The project took a year and a half to complete, since much of the film footage and images were only recentlydeclassified by theUnited States Department of Defense.[5]
According to DeNooyer, “It wouldn’t take very manybombs to really changelife on Earth, ... The idea that there are thousands of them sitting around is pretty scary. I don’t think people today realize that. They don’t think about it. I don’t think they are scared. But in a way, they should be.”[7]Mark Dawidziak, of theCleveland Plain Dealer, summarized the film as follows: "The Bomb moves swiftly to coverHiroshima andNagasaki, theCold War, thearms race, theRed Scare, thewitch hunt, theCuban Missile Crisis,test-ban treaties, the"Star Wars" initiative, theanti-nuke movement, thecollapse of the Soviet Union and therise of new nuclear threats."[9] According tohistorianRichard Rhodes, “Theinvention [of 'The Bomb'] was a millennial change inhuman history: for the first time, we were now capable of our own destruction, as aspecies.”[3]
The documentary film isnarrated byJonathan Adams and includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name):
Pulitzer Prize-winningAmerican conservative journalist and commentatorDorothy Rabinowitz, of theWall Street Journal, writes, "Documentaries commemorating the atomic bomb’s first use are rarely deficient in drama, and this overstuffed yet altogether gripping work is no exception. Its assortment of uninhibitedly blunt commentators doesn’t hurt either."[4] According to David Hinckley of theDaily News, "...some of the most powerful moments [of the film] focus on people, not technology."[12] Robert Lloyd of theLos Angeles Times noted, "...much of this tale, as accidental as it also feels inevitable, is one of individual egos warping history, of scientists at war with politicians, of evil scientists at war with good ones, of wounded bureaucrats out for revenge."[13] Verne Gay ofNewsday concludes, "The Bomb is a decent overview but with insufficient analysis or perspective ..."[11]Mark Dawidziak, of theCleveland Plain Dealer, reports, "[The film is] part history lesson, part science class, part sociological study, part political thriller and part cautionary tale ... "[9]Neil Genzlinger of theNew York Times observes, "The arms race is dutifully chronicled and the anti-nuke movement too, but only in its final minutes does the program get around to noting that nuclear bombs are still with us and that countries other than theUnited States andRussia have them. There’s a brief suggestion that ifIndia andPakistan ever go at it the whole world will suffer fromcollateral damage, but the thought doesn’t linger. It’s as ifThe Bomb doesn’t want to intrude on the present by reminding us that the genie released 70 years ago [onAugust 6, 1945] is still at large."[10]
At the67th Berlin International Film Festival, the experimental 2016 filmthe bomb, by Kevin Ford, Smriti Keshari andEric Schlosser, was premiered.The film featured archival footage about the atomic bomb, along with live music byThe Acid.[14]
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