Trinity and Beyond

 ((Docu -- Color))

By EMANUEL LEVY

A Visual Concept Entertainment production. Produced by Peter Kuran, Alan Munro. Directed by Peter Kuran. Camera (color), Barbu Marion; music, William Stromborg; special visual effects and digital restoration, Kuran at Visual Concept Entertainment. Reviewed on vidcassette, Oct. 15, 1995. (In AFI/LA Film Festival.) Running time: 92 min. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, "Trinity and Beyond" is a factually solid, visually stunning, informative documentary chronicling the history of U.S. atomic and hydrogen bomb testing, 1945-63. Though including never-before-seen footage and visual effects, docu assumes the nature of a dry, impersonal, unexciting college lecture, which will restrict its commercial appeal but will be viable for airings on PBS and cable, and as a valuable instructional tool in schools. Incorporating previously unreleased and classified government documents, director Peter Kuran depicts in graphic detail the history of the atom bomb. Of course, one cannot understand U.S. policy in this area without discussing the constant threat -- real and imagined -- from the Soviet Union.
 

Docu is excellent in conveying the Cold War mentality, the hostile tension -- and competition -- between the two superpowers for close to 20 years. One crucial sequence records the largest atomic explosion created by Russia in the early 1960s, in clear violation of the test ban.

Additionally, the film includes new interviews with some of the surviving physicists who were originally assigned to create the bombs. Their contempo testimonies are juxtaposed with old footage showing these very young men at work.

Archival footage includes scenes of bombs being suspended by balloons, shot from cannon, and detonated in outer space.

With all the enthusiasm about the data's unique quality, overall impact of this docu is unexciting because of its conventional, rather old-fashioned format.

Most of the story is narrated in a rather solemn, dispassionate manner, and one never gets really close to the dramatic personae in charge of the operations and to the human elements behind the scenes.

That said, it's useful to remember that Hollywood's efforts to tackle this problematic subject matter -- most notably Roland Joffe's "Fat Man and Little Boy"-- also have been unsuccessful.

One area that could have used more elaboration is the long-term effects of the bomb tests on the ozone layer and the possible part they have played in the increased rate of skin cancer worldwide.

Tech credits, particularly visuals, are excellent. Kuran and his able crew reportedly utilized groundbreaking color restoration via a process called Restored Color Image, a photochemical process that restores an old color film negative to its original scheme.