Nuclear Dynamite

Reminding us just how crazy and hubristic humans can be, this amazing--and sometimes hilarious--documentary explores the use of nuclear explosives for "peaceful purposes," a notion coined in the late 1950s by the father of the hydrogen bomb, Edward Teller, who had the brilliant idea of using several hundred bombs to excavate a new, broader Panama Canal. Dubbed Project Ploughshare, the plan was supported by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in the 1960s before ultimately being scrubbed in 1974, largely because of the anti-nuclear protest movement. Not to be outdone, the Soviets set off over 100 "peaceful" nuclear bombs before the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 put an end to the friendly nuking program. Gary Marcuse's Nuclear Dynamite unearths some incredible period footage, including a classic public relations effort called "The Atom and Eve," in which a 1960s woman in a diaphanous blue gown dances joyfully before a kind of Jolly Cloud Giant cartoon character representing nuclear power, while Teller's Bela-Lugosi-like Hungarian voiceover extols the benefits of scientific advances. Interwoven with the astonishing visual footage is commentary from a number of cogent Soviet, Canadian, and American scientists, including physicist Freeman Dyson, who provides puckish remarks on his involvement with Project Orion, which aimed to use repeated blasts from nuclear bombs to send 500 colonists aboard a giant spaceship to Mars. A well-made, thoughtful, informative look at recent history, which may well repeat itself in the future under other guises (indeed, the video ends with dire warnings about genetic engineering, though the analogy seems strained), this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (M. Pendergrast)