The Bomb (film)

2015 American documentary film

The Bomb

DVD cover

Genre| Documentary film
Written by| Rushmore DeNooyer
Directed by| Rushmore DeNooyer
Narrated by| Jonathan Adams
Theme music composer| Todd Hutchisen (music editor)
Country of origin| United States
Original language| English
No. of episodes| One-episode (about two-hours)
Production
Producer| Lone Wolf Media
Editors| Doug Quade
Ryan Shepheard
Running time| 114:39 minutes
Original release
Network| PBS
Release| July 28, 2015 (2015-07-28)

The Bomb is a 2015 American documentary film about the history of nuclear weapons, from theoretical scientific considerations at the very beginning, to their first use on August 6, 1945,[1][2] to their global political implications in the present day.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The film was written and directed by Rushmore DeNooyer for PBS. The project took a year and a half to complete, since much of the film footage and images were only recently declassified by the United States Department of Defense.[5]

According to DeNooyer, “It wouldn’t take very many bombs to really change life on Earth, ... The idea that there are thousands of them sitting around is pretty scary. I don’t think people today realize that. They don’t think about it. I don’t think they are scared. But in a way, they should be.”[7] Mark Dawidziak, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, summarized the film as follows: "The Bomb moves swiftly to cover Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cold War, the arms race, the Red Scare, the witch hunt, the Cuban Missile Crisis, test-ban treaties, the "Star Wars" initiative, the anti-nuke movement, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of new nuclear threats."[9] According to historian Richard Rhodes, “The invention [of 'The Bomb'] was a millennial change in human history: for the first time, we were now capable of our own destruction, as a species.”[3]

## Participants

[edit]

The documentary film is narrated by Jonathan Adams and includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name):

* Jonathan Adams (narrator)
* John Andersen (former Nuclear Weapons Engineer)
* Hal Behl (aeronautical engineer; Manhattan Project)[10]
* Walter J. Boyne (former U.S. Strategic Air Command pilot)
* Alan Carr (historian; The Forgotten Physicist)
* Lynn Eden (historian; Whole World on Fire)
* John Hopkins (former Director, Nuclear Weapons Program)
* Lilli Hornig (chemist; Manhattan Project)[11]
* Sergei Khrushchev (historian; Khrushchev in Power)
* Amy Knight (historian; How The Cold War Began)
* Charles Loeber (former Nuclear Weapons Engineer)
* Elaine Tyler May (historian; Homeward Bound)
* Glen McDuff (former Nuclear Weapons Engineer)
* Laura McEnaney (historian; Civil Defense Begins at Home)
* Robert Norris (historian; Racing for the Bomb)
* William Perry (former U.S. Secretary of Defense)
* Roger Rasmussen (retired U.S. Army engineer; Trinity witness)[5]
* Richard Rhodes (historian; The Making of the Atomic Bomb)
* Svetlana Savranskaya (historian; The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis)
* Martin Sherwin (historian; American Prometheus)
* George Shultz (former U.S. Secretary of State)
* Lester Tenney (American POW)[4]
* Jonathan M. Weisgall (author; Operation Crossroads)

## Reception

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Pulitzer prize-winning American conservative journalist and commentator Dorothy Rabinowitz, of the Wall Street Journal, writes, "Documentaries commemorating the atomic bomb’s first use are rarely deficient in drama, and this overstuffed yet altogether gripping work is no exception. Its assortment of uninhibitedly blunt commentators doesn’t hurt either."[4] According to David Hinckley of the Daily News, "...some of the most powerful moments [of the film] focus on people, not technology."[12] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times noted, "...much of this tale, as accidental as it also feels inevitable, is one of individual egos warping history, of scientists at war with politicians, of evil scientists at war with good ones, of wounded bureaucrats out for revenge."[13] Verne Gay of Newsday concludes, "The Bomb is a decent overview but with insufficient analysis or perspective ..."[11] Mark Dawidziak, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, reports, "[The film is] part history lesson, part science class, part sociological study, part political thriller and part cautionary tale ... "[9] Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times observes, "The arms race is dutifully chronicled and the anti-nuke movement too, but only in its final minutes does the program get around to noting that nuclear bombs are still with us and that countries other than the United States and Russia have them. There’s a brief suggestion that if India and Pakistan ever go at it the whole world will suffer from collateral damage, but the thought doesn’t linger. It’s as if The Bomb doesn’t want to intrude on the present by reminding us that the genie released 70 years ago [on August 6, 1945] is still at large."[10]

### Related films

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At the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, the experimental 2016 film the bomb, by Kevin Ford, Smriti Keshari and Eric Schlosser, was premiered. The film featured archival footage about the atomic bomb, along with live music by The Acid.[14]

## See also

[edit]

* Copenhagen (play)
* History of the anti-nuclear movement
* History of nuclear weapons
* International Atomic Energy Agency
* International Day against Nuclear Tests
* J. Robert Oppenheimer
* List of nuclear tests
* List of nuclear weapons
* Manhattan Project
* Oppenheimer (2023 film)
* The Mystery of Matter (PBS film)
* Trinity (nuclear test)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Dunlap, David W. (August 6, 2015). "Looking Back - 1945 - Witnessing the A-Bomb, but Forbidden to File". New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2015.(re William L. Laurence, Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist for the New York Times)
2. ^ Southard, Susan (August 7, 2015). "Nagasaki, the Forgotten City". New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
3. ^ a b Staff (July 28, 2015). "PBS - The Bomb - It Changed The World ... And Continues To Shape Our Lives". PBS. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
4. ^ a b c Rabinowitz, Dorothy (July 23, 2015). "'The Bomb' Review: The Weapon That Ended the War - Seventy years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a look at the creation of the world's most destructive weapon". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
5. ^ a b c Contreras, Russell (July 27, 2015). "PBS special 'The Bomb' seeks to tell story of atomic weapons for 70th anniversary". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
6. ^ Contreras, Russell (July 28, 2015). "Correction: The Bomb Story". ABC News. Archived from the original on August 1, 2015.
7. ^ a b Nott, Robert (July 27, 2015). "TV documentary explores making of atomic bombs". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
8. ^ Bianco, Robert (July 28, 2015). "TV tonight: 'The Bomb' on PBS". USA Today. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
9. ^ a b Dawidziak, Mark (July 25, 2015). "'The Bomb' takes a 70-year run through the nuclear age". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
10. ^ a b Genzlinger, Neil (July 27, 2015). "'The Bomb' Helps Return Nukes to the TV Spotlight". New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
11. ^ a b Gay, Verne (July 27, 2015). "'The Bomb' and 'Uranium' review: Two PBS documentaries, one insufficient, one engaging". Newsday. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
12. ^ Hinckley, David (July 28, 2015). "PBS atomic bomb documentary is better and longer than Smithsonian's". Daily News (New York). Retrieved August 1, 2015.
13. ^ Lloyd, Robert (July 24, 2015). "Critic's Pick TV Picks: 'Chris Gethard,' 'Uranium,' 'The Bomb,' 'The Walker'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
14. ^ Mintzer, Jordan (February 11, 2017). "'the bomb': Film Review - Berlin 2017 - 'Fast Food Nation' author Eric Schlosser co-directed 'the bomb,' an experimental documentary about nuclear weapons that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.

## External links

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* The Bomb at the PBS WebSite/1.
* The Bomb (videos) at the PBS WebSite/2.
* The Bomb at IMDb.
* The Bomb \- Trailer (00:41) on YouTube
* The Bomb \- Complete Film (115:05) on YouTube
* Peace Museums: Hiroshima; Nagasaki.
* Largest bomb exploded – Tsar Bomba (1961; Soviet Union)
* Federation of American Scientists - Worldwide Nuclear Forces Guide
* Video (14:25) - Time-Lapse Map of All 2053 Nuclear Explosions on Planet Earth (7 Countries, 1945 - 1998).

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