Research Catalog

Title

Half life: a parable of the nuclear age [motion picture] / Dennis O'Rourke.

Publication

Los Angeles : Direct Cinema, Ltd., 1985.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

O'Rourke, Dennis.

Description

2 film reels (86 min.) : sd., col.; 16 mm.

Summary

This documentary investigates the effects of the post-World War II testing of nuclear weapons on the Marshall Islands, tiny atolls in the mid-Pacific. Although the islands were under U.S. protection as part of a strategic trust formed in 1947, the next decade saw the explosion of at least 66 atomic and hydrogen bombs in the area. When the powerful bomb, code-named "Bravo," was detonated at Bikini on March 1, 1954, the islanders on Rongelap and Ultirik Atolls were not evacuated although naval ships were available. When radioactive fallout, resembling snow, reached the islands, children excitedly played in it unaware of its dangers. Incorporating declassified government footage and contemporary interviews, the filmmaker documents the dire effects of the Bravo test on the atoll inhabitants and U.S. weathermen stationed nearby and chillingly reveals a case study of a "cynical radiation experiment on human populations."

Subjects

• Nuclear weapons
• Marshall Islands > History
• Nuclear explosions > Environmental aspects > Marshall Islands

Credits (note)

• Producer, director, Dennis O'Rourke.

Title

Half life: a parable of the nuclear age [motion picture] / Dennis O'Rourke.

Imprint

Los Angeles : Direct Cinema, Ltd., 1985.

Credits

Producer, director, Dennis O'Rourke.

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Added Author

O'Rourke, Dennis.

Branch Call Number

M16 4108 H