It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is just the second episode of PBS's "The American Experience"--and the series is still going strong in its 24th season! That's because the shows are so freaking good--exceptionally well made and often telling stories about American history that would otherwise never be known or doing in-depth biographies that are about as good as you can find.For those familiar with "The American Experience", you'll no doubt notice that the style of this particular episode is different. It is NOT narrated but consists of film footage and radio commentary from the day.In 1946, the US detonated a test atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific--it was the fourth atomic bomb detonated. Near the island were various obsolete ships from the war and on the decks of the ships were various animals to be used to determine the effects of the blast. Twenty miles away, ships with US sailors and various international dignitaries were stationed to view the detonation and examine the aftereffects. And, back in the States, this experiment was broadcast to the nation.Watching the film footage is pretty strange. While I'd seen much of this before, seeing sailors sitting on the decks of ship covering their heads as their only protection seemed pretty insane--as did watching some of the big-wigs actually watching the blast with goggles!! Even weirder were interviews where folks expressed disappointment in the blast and one of them wishing they'd been stationed much closer!! Clearly they had no idea of the effects of nuclear fallout! I assume the show is called "Radio Bikini" because portions of the show are rebroadcasts of the original radio program. It's interesting that some of the broadcast is very patronizing when it discussed the natives of the island--like they are simple-minded children.All in all, a very freaky documentary--one that manages to hit you like a baseball bat even though it is very unconventional in style--especially when one of the observers is shown decades later and you see the bomb's effects on him! This ending is just like the one in the horrifying documentary "Radium City". You can't help but watch--it's just so awful and amazing from start to finish--and a bit sad when you hear the natives talking about how they cannot return home decades following the blast.

In 1982, the excellent "The Atomic Cafe" was released. That movie succeeded both as an informative documentary and as an offbeat comedy. The horrible destructiveness of the new atom bomb was balanced by the likable goofiness of the American public at the time, and the result was an entertaining and thoughtful treatment of the subject.The makers of Radio Bikini evidently felt that Cafe needed to be re-released with all of its entertainment value stripped away and replaced with lots of graphic footage of ugly details and government mistakes. It starts with footage of Americans celebrating the surrender of the Japanese and the end of WWII, but for some reason this sequence is set to a funeral dirge. This dreary, overlong sequence sets the tone for the rest of the film. Pompous political speeches, graphic footage of animals being locked down for blast tests, an interview with a dying man... the only thing that keeps it from being preachy is the muddled presentation of the material.This movie is a pointless, tedious remake of a much better film. Do yourself a favor and rent "The Atomic Cafe". Don't waste your time on this one.

I'll give this one a 10; I wish I'd seen this years ago. The film documents the decision to make the tests, the deportation of the Bikini Islanders to a much smaller island that couldn't support them, the tests themselves, and the aftermath. The latter is poignantly shown by the interview with a naval veteran, Mr. John Smitherman, who witnessed the tests and was poisoned with radiation and lived out his later years suffering horrendously. His injuries are the stuff of some nightmare science-fiction film. Unfortunately, they weren't fictional.There is some footage of Admiral William Blandy, USN, who carried out the tests. I've been told that he became contaminated at the Baker test as well. He died only 8 years later.The naive stupidity of the Navy is paraded for all to see. For me, the most haunting moment is at the end, where we hear Mr. Smitherman's voice-- we see sailors sitting and talking, and some look at the camera while grinning, while over all of this plays haunting, dirge-like music that brings home the truth of Mr. Smitherman's remarks: Crossroads was undoubtedly the beginning of a hideous slow death for many of these people.

In the wake of World War II the United States, with its monopoly on atomic weapons, was not above deciding to flex its nuclear muscles in two early tests of atomic bombs near the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1946. It was interesting to see that even in that time the President (Truman) was invoking God in support of our development and use of the bomb. God had granted us the favor of having the bomb and Truman beseeched him to guide us in its proper use. This short one-hour documentary about the two atomic tests provides material for debate as to whether Truman's requests of God have been met.The United States had the hubris to evacuate the entire island of Bikini in order to conduct its tests, telling the islanders that it was in the interest of the welfare of mankind. This evacuation is personalized in this film by comments from Kilon Bauno, the chief of the Bikini islanders. Bauno and the islanders had no real idea of what was going on and why they were being forced off of their homeland. The shots of the islanders being loaded into ships are heart rending.I used to think that the trust of the U.S. Government started on its downhill slid during and after Vietnam, but we can see here that its origins are earlier. When we see the P.R. footage of the medical doctor assuring us that every possible safety precaution had been taken and there was absolutely no danger to anyone involved in these tests, and then later see the sailors lighting up the Geiger counters, we experience what has in later years become that all too common reaction of less than total faith in what our government tells us. After all we did have the Japan bombings as a cautionary warning.This documentary could be an indoctrination film for PETA. Some of the most agonizing clips for me were those that dealt with the use of goats as experimental animals in the tests. They were confined in small metal cages and set afloat on test ships. Seeing the animals struggle to get out of their restraints was difficult and then, after the tests, the horribly burned animals were displayed as if trophies of some major victory. Truly disturbing.There is much footage of the blasts themselves. The sad truth is that the release of such power is awe-inspiring and fascinating. This is perhaps part of the motivation for developing these devices - to witness this elemental force. There is also the element of not being able to restrain men from playing with their toys. But realizing the potential of using such toys for evil tempers any attractions. However, understanding that potential has also prevented any major war in the last sixty years. But the idea of an atomic bomb in the hands of a terrorist is a truly frightening prospect. Certainly the advent of nuclear power has made our world a much more complicated place to understand and deal with.We can see the beginnings of the cold war here. The U.S. proposed a plan for controlling nuclear weaponry to which the official response from the Soviet Union was to say that nuclear weapons should be outlawed entirely - this at a time when they were actively pursuing their own nuclear weapons program.To be fair this is not a documentary without a point of view. A small bow is made to the voices of concern about these tests, in particular a clip of Albert Einstein endorsing such concern. But the emphasis is on the arrogance and naivety of the decision makers. The ukulele music played over the Bikini evacuation heightens the pathos of the situation. The interviews with John Smitherman, who was at the tests, were poignant. Smitherman later developed grotesque swellings in his legs to the point where he had to have them amputated, and his left hand, to which we are treated to a close-up, swelled to the size of a football. Also, I felt a bit manipulated by Smitherman's being shown from the waist up until the end when the camera pulls back for us to see his grievous injuries. Effective, but I felt taken advantage of. And just how common a case is Smitherman's? The film was made some forty years after the tests and much data would have been available as to what the ultimate fate was for many of those there at the time. I wanted more information about the aftermath - what happened to the islanders and the island itself, what happened to that area of the Marshall islands, what happened to the sailors, what was the future of atomic testing, and so forth.Whatever its flaws this is an important and thought-provoking documentary that offers us a small time capsule of a crucial time in history.