My review was written in October 1982 after a New York Film Festival screening.
"Dark Circle" is an effective though diffuse documentary presenting the case against nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Filmmakers Judy Irving, Chris Beaver and Ruth Landy have enough factual material and emotional appeals to satisfy partisan audiences, indicating good prospects for playoff, especially in the non-theatrical market.
Launching point is the dangers of weapons production (and use), particularized in the problems of residents near Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility in Colorado. While not offering irrefutable proof, the interviews with workers, residents and activists illustrate cancer hazards arising from the massive quantities of plutonium on-site. Fire hazards and water supply contamination are also covered.
Using rather vivid (and at times shocking) archive and government footage, filmmakers trace the mishandling of nuclear technology in a manner similar to, though less satirical than, the compilation treatment of the recent docu "The Atomic Cafe". Government tests of nuclear blasts' effects on animals and later, soldiers are particularly horrifying. For added emotional force, new footage on Nagasaki and Hiroshima victims is also included. Extremely effective is a sequence showing corporate logos of companies (ranging from Bendix to General Electric) involved in nuclear weapons production and technology, with the corporate ad slogans flashed on-screen taking on ghoulish connotations. Rockwell International, which operates Rocky Flats, is singled out on the list and a Rockwell trade commercial for its "Hellfire" weapons system is a scary extension of the film's argument to nonnuclear armaments proliferation.
With plutonium dangers as the link, filmmakers digress to include coverage of the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant episode in California, where spokesperson Raye Fleming of Mothers for Peace helped delay the 1980 licensing of the facility. License was ultimately revoked when blueprints belatedly showed innumerable faults in the plant's construction. Picture's all-inclusive anti-nuke stance is obvious, with organizer Pam Solo articulating the message on screen, but its coverage of both bomb dangers and power plant dangers is unbalanced.
Biggest defect in the film is its failure to present the establishment's position clearly and credibly so as to have something to definitively attack rather than just another straw man. Pro-nuclear government spokesmen chosen (and edited) for inclusion appear ridiculous, especially a nuclear weapons designer Stirling Colgate who comes off as a pathetic crackpot. Overtly partisan docus (among them the classic "Harlan County, U. S. A.") always face the problem of gaining cooperation from the the other side, but this does not excuser the comic relief nature of "Dark Circle"'s pro-nuclear speakers.
Voice-over narration delivered by Judy Irving is not forceful or concise enough to match the film's visual evidence. Picture was funded by many foundations as well as the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Film Institute.
"Dark Circle" is an effective though diffuse documentary presenting the case against nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Filmmakers Judy Irving, Chris Beaver and Ruth Landy have enough factual material and emotional appeals to satisfy partisan audiences, indicating good prospects for playoff, especially in the non-theatrical market.
Launching point is the dangers of weapons production (and use), particularized in the problems of residents near Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility in Colorado. While not offering irrefutable proof, the interviews with workers, residents and activists illustrate cancer hazards arising from the massive quantities of plutonium on-site. Fire hazards and water supply contamination are also covered.
Using rather vivid (and at times shocking) archive and government footage, filmmakers trace the mishandling of nuclear technology in a manner similar to, though less satirical than, the compilation treatment of the recent docu "The Atomic Cafe". Government tests of nuclear blasts' effects on animals and later, soldiers are particularly horrifying. For added emotional force, new footage on Nagasaki and Hiroshima victims is also included. Extremely effective is a sequence showing corporate logos of companies (ranging from Bendix to General Electric) involved in nuclear weapons production and technology, with the corporate ad slogans flashed on-screen taking on ghoulish connotations. Rockwell International, which operates Rocky Flats, is singled out on the list and a Rockwell trade commercial for its "Hellfire" weapons system is a scary extension of the film's argument to nonnuclear armaments proliferation.
With plutonium dangers as the link, filmmakers digress to include coverage of the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant episode in California, where spokesperson Raye Fleming of Mothers for Peace helped delay the 1980 licensing of the facility. License was ultimately revoked when blueprints belatedly showed innumerable faults in the plant's construction. Picture's all-inclusive anti-nuke stance is obvious, with organizer Pam Solo articulating the message on screen, but its coverage of both bomb dangers and power plant dangers is unbalanced.
Biggest defect in the film is its failure to present the establishment's position clearly and credibly so as to have something to definitively attack rather than just another straw man. Pro-nuclear government spokesmen chosen (and edited) for inclusion appear ridiculous, especially a nuclear weapons designer Stirling Colgate who comes off as a pathetic crackpot. Overtly partisan docus (among them the classic "Harlan County, U. S. A.") always face the problem of gaining cooperation from the the other side, but this does not excuser the comic relief nature of "Dark Circle"'s pro-nuclear speakers.
Voice-over narration delivered by Judy Irving is not forceful or concise enough to match the film's visual evidence. Picture was funded by many foundations as well as the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Film Institute.