The Day After Trinity

Nominated for Best Documentary in 1981, The Day After Trinity is a haunting and poignant picture of both the birth of the atomic age and the life of the man responsible: J. Robert Oppenheimer. Composed of documentary footage and contemporary interviews with people who were involved in the Manhattan Project, such as Robert Wilson, Freeman Dyson, and Oppenheimer's brother, Frank--the portrait that emerges of 'Oppie' is one of a gentle, romantic intellectual who, nevertheless, was seduced by the siren song of fame and power, and paid for it dearly with his soul. In one of the film's many sobering moments, Frank Oppenheimer says his (and most likely everyone's) initial reaction to the news of the Hiroshima bombing was "Thank god, it wasn't a dud." And then, as the reports filtered through, the horror of what had really happened set in. Later, in a filmed interview, Oppenheimer, with tears in his eyes, quotes the Bhagavad-Gita: "I am become Death--the Destroyer of Worlds." A powerful, disturbing film. Highly recommended. (See THE OLD FOREST for availability).