Radio Bikini

A searing indictment of the military's misguided 1946 atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Robert Stone's explosive 1987 Oscar-nominated documentary Radio Bikini is an eye-opening look at "Operation Crossroads," which was captured by 104 still cameras and 208 motion picture cameras. Featuring previously classified footage, including dailies of an uncompleted propaganda film that was to be a testament to American atomic superiority, the film yields black and bleak comic moments that produce horrified laughter ("unlike the Japanese," we are informed, "every precaution" is being made to protect American soldiers who are witnessing the tests). The archival footage is juxtaposed with heartbreaking interviews from eyewitnesses, ranging from a contaminated naval serviceman who died shortly after this film was completed ("we were told there would be nothing we should be concerned with"), to a Balkan chief forced to leave his home, which the tests would leave uninhabitable for more than 40 years. A winner on the film festival circuit, Radio Bikini is a haunting, harrowing, and ultimately eloquent tribute to those whose lives were upended by the first generation of weapons of mass destruction. DVD extras include a filmmaker interview. Recommended. (D. Liebenson)