PBS special released as the 70th anniversary of atomic bombings of Hirishima, Nagasaki approaches
By Russell Contreras
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) --The creation of the atomic bomb in a New Mexico secret city and newly restored and declassified footage will be featured in a new PBS special released as the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki approaches.
"The Bomb," which begins airing this week on most PBS stations, seeks to tell the story of a weapon that transformed history and continues to affect relationships among dueling world powers.
Filmmaker Rushmore DeNooyer said the project took a year and half to complete, since producers had to comb through footage and images only recently declassified by the U.S. Department of Defense.
That footage showed the "ironic beauty" of mushroom clouds detonating over the New Mexico desert and the Pacific while posing a serious threat, DeNooyer said.
"We're trying to take 70 years of history and tell it in two hours," DeNooyer said. "We probably spent the first six months just researching and reading."
The first atomic bomb test — the Trinity Test — took place in the southern New Mexico desert as part of the Manhattan Project, the secretive World War II program that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb.
The project involved three research and production facilities: Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Hanford, Washington.
"Everything was hush-hush … go where you are told," said retired U.S. Army engineer and Trinity witness Roger Rasmussen. "They knew exactly who I was and why I was there. And that was better than I knew."
For years, only grainy black and white video footages of scientists working at the Trinity site and the blast were available to the general public. But DeNooyer and producers got access to a color-home video shot by a Los Alamos scientist, depicting life in the secret town. They also added color to old images and footage, providing a new way to look at the Trinity Test.
The film also shows the horrific effect on Japanese citizens and discusses John Hersey's 1946 New Yorker essay on the victims of Hiroshima that shaped public opinion on the threat of nuclear weapons.
Besides the Trinity Test and bombings of Japan on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, the film examines post-World War II nuclear tests and Cold War tensions, including the Cuban Missile Crisis.
DeNooyer said he believed the film was important given today's debate over the Iran nuclear agreement and fears that terrorists groups might try to obtain a nuclear bomb.
"We should care about it because the bomb is still there," DeNooyer said. "The danger is that we don't really think about it as much anymore. But we still have enough (bombs) to destroy human civilization."
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More