''Dark Circle'' is a 1982 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed and produced by Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver and Ruth Landy that focuses on the connections between the nuclear weapons and the

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

industries, with a strong emphasis on the individual human and protracted U.S. environmental costs involved. A clear point made by the film is that while only two bombs were dropped on Japan, many hundreds were exploded in the United States. The film won the Grand Prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and received a national Emmy Award for "Outstanding individual achievement in news and documentary."
Dark Circle
', DVD release date March 27, 2007, Directors: Judy Irving, Chris Beaver, Ruth Landy. . For the opening scenes and about half of its length, the film focuses on the

Rocky Flats Plant The Rocky Flats Plant was a U.S. manufacturing complex that produced nuclear weapons parts in the western United States, near Denver, Colorado. The facility's primary mission was the fabrication of plutonium pits, which were shipped to ot ...

and its plutonium contamination of the area's environment. The remainder of the film covers the development, wartime usage and prolonged testing of U.S. nuclear weapons, including the creation of

plutonium-239 Plutonium-239 (239Pu or Pu-239) is an isotope of plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 is also used for that purpose. Plutonium-239 is also one of the three mai ...

in commercial nuclear power plants such as

Diablo Canyon Power Plant The Diablo Canyon Power Plant is a nuclear power plant near Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County, California. Since the permanent shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2013, Diablo Canyon has been the only operational nu ...

. The documentary is unrated.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

film footage of a

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

bombing survivor whose back and left arm were stripped of skin is shown; scar-covered, he tells his story in the present day. Testing of nuclear weapons on live hogs at skin-searing distances, the Priscilla Test, and U.S. military troops at safer ranges are also featured. The film closes by highlighting

anti-nuclear The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...

protest activities directed at the

on the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

coast in the USA. The protesters contend, and the movie supports, the assertion that the protests were responsible for delaying the licensing of the

and, as a result of the delay, the uncovering of serious construction errors was made public just before the plant went online and started producing power. Discovered by a 25-year-old engineer prior to initial criticality, earthquake supports for nuclear piping had been installed backwards. The film documents the protests with substantial up close footage including the moment that this information became known.

PBS

The film was approved for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

national broadcast in 1985, but that decision was rejected a year later. According to Barry Chase, PBS vice-president for news and public affairs: Independent producers alleged censorship. B.J. Bullert commented that the PBS/ KQED decision "robbed a national public television audience." Bullert, p. 39
/ref> He extrapolates this critical remark to the media across the board and its failure to focus public attention on the putative biological hazard of nuclear power. Regardless, the film premiered on PBS' '' POV'' ("Documentaries with a point of view") on 6 August 1989. PBS summarizes the film's thesis as "The Bomb is killing ordinary Americans, even in the absence of a nuclear war."

Critical reception

B. J. Bullert, in her title ''Public Television: Politics and the Battle over Documentary Film''Bullert lamented the scuttling of the national broadcast and stated that ''Dark Circle'' was outside of the mainstream in making assertions which are now widely accepted. Nat Katzman, former KQED station manager, quoted in Bullert's book, stated "It's more difficult to say (''Dark Circle'') falsified anything, but it left one with the uncomfortable feeling that this is propaganda, not journalism. John Hart, for ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'', said the film "May be the most eloquent, far-ranging and convincing film on the subject to date, as well as the one that offers the best evidence for hope." Kenneth R. Clark, for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', wrote "''Dark Circle'' makes no pretense of journalistic objectivity. It is an advocacy piece wrapped in the nightmare of horrific film footage, much of which until recently has been classified top secret."

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Circle 1982 films Anti-nuclear films Documentary films about nuclear technology Films set in California POV (TV series) films 1982 documentary films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films

PBS

Critical reception

See also

Notes

References

External links