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| Pu-239 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Scott Z. Burns |
| Written by | Scott Z. Burns |
| Based on | PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies byKen Kalfus |
| Produced by | Charlie Lyons Miranda de Pencier Guy J. Louthan |
| Starring | Paddy Considine Radha Mitchell Oscar Isaac |
| Cinematography | Eigil Bryld |
| Edited by | Tatiana S. Riegel Leo Trombetta |
| Music by | Abel Korzeniowski |
| Distributed by | Beacon Pictures HBO Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Pu-239 is a 2006 Britishdrama film written and directed by Hollywood producerScott Z. Burns in his feature directorial debut, which was based on the bookPU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies written byKen Kalfus. The film was shown twice at the 2006Toronto International Film Festival under the titleThe Half Life of Timofey Berezin before being distributed byHBO Films under its original working title. Pu-239 is the chemical symbol forplutonium-239 (239Pu), the most readilyfissileisotope of the elementplutonium.
Timofey Berezin (Paddy Considine) works at a former top-secret, badly run and agednuclear reprocessing facility plant in Skotoprigonyevsk-16, a formerclosed city and anaukograd. At the film's outset, he is exposed to radioactive contamination while selflessly trying to prevent a critical malfunction. The facility's managers tell him that his exposure was a survivable 100rems, while accusing him of sabotage and suspending him without pay. Loyal coworkers, however, help Timofey discover the truth that he was exposed to 1,000 rems of radiation. Suffering from acuteradiation poisoning, he has only days to live.
Before Timofey's adoring wife, Marina (Radha Mitchell), is fully aware of his fate, he leaves for Moscow, on a mission to secure a better future for her and their young son. He hooks up with a small-time gangster, Shiv (Oscar Isaac), in hopes of finding a buyer for a selfmade canister of a little over 100 grams of weapons-grade plutonium salt he has stolen. It is 1995, only a few years after thedissolution of the Soviet Union, and they spend their time frequenting the hotels, nightclubs and private palaces of the new Moscow underworld, ricocheting between two rival crime lords (Nikolaj Lie Kaas andSteven Berkoff). However, what Timofey and Shiv never realize is that they are both caught in the same dilemma: trying to find a way free of a certain fate; hoping to do right by their loved ones before it is too late.