*Spoiler/plot- Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, 1995. A new documentary unbiasedly exploring the testing and development of nuclear weapons through the 40 through the times o f the nuclear test-ban treaties in the 60's.*Special Stars- Narrator: William Shatner. Professors Edward Teller & Frank H. Shelton.*Theme- New technologies must be tested and explored to find the benefits and dangers.*Trivia/location/goofs- Various locations connected with the development and tests of atomic weapons from Nevada, New Mexico, ocean of San Deigo, Marshal & Christmas Island groups.*Emotion- I lived and grew up in this era and I have been interested in this subject due to it's connection to hard science. I have seen other such films on this subject like: 'Atomic Cafe', 'Trinity', and 'Oppenhiemer Story' biopic. This film covers matters chronologically and releases previously classified Govt films never seen before in public. It provides an easy to understand and dis-passionate presentation of Atomic weapons development history to the film viewer. I was surprised to find that I had more to learn of the atomic programs of forty years ago. I was educated on the large number of atomic 'shots' accomplished and what was to be the very practical escalation of their helpful and destructive uses. I found this film fascinating, compelling, very watchable, enlightening, well paced and produced on a unique subject that still influences us today.*Based On- US Govt. declassified Department of Defense information and films.

William Shatner narrates a running tally of almost every nuclear weapons test run by the United States in the atomic age, from the 1945 breakthrough "Trinity" to 1963's "Nike Hercules" air defense missile. Almost as fascinating as the constant barrage of blooming orange mushroom clouds on the screen is the realization of just how recklessly fascinated our leaders actually were with this technology. It's a boys' world (or, at least, it was at the time) and so it's not entirely surprising that the men at the top of the food chain would want the biggest toy in the yard to parade around with. Still, it's tough to imagine anyone - even a selfish little brat - being so carefree with such volatile powers. The process almost parodies itself; when the US woefully underestimated the strength of "Castle," a blast twice as powerful as expected that accidentally irradiated sailors and villagers alike, they barely stopped to brush themselves off before launching additional blasts below the surface of the ocean, deep under the ground and in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The latter of which, inadvertently, introduced us to the far-reaching powers of an EMP. The historical footage dug up for this documentary is riveting and amazing, fantastic fodder for fireball-lovers, but I couldn't stop wondering how we got through it all in one piece. These guys only thought they knew what they were doing, or had at best a vague idea, and in a lot of ways that's worse than just lighting the fuse and standing around with a clipboard and a pair of safety goggles.

This film would have been nothing were it not for the outstanding scoring by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. The music amplifies the horror, the bizarre and grotesque beauty, the grandiose irony of this film and its subject. Shatner's fact-like voice is like monochrome, and never distracts from the subject with character. It is a purposefully amoral film to good effect. Without stretching far beyond the immediate implications of a nuclear blast, and by staying devoid of ideology, we are left with the terrible phenomenon itself - the atomic blast.To me, this was a real horror movie... sitting paralyzed, bug eyed, shocked, mouth agape and all that, complete with surround sound and weighty, ponderous Russian orchestrations in grotesque minor keys. You pray to God they make presidents watch films like these.I also thought the ending "However..." sequence was perfect. To say that weapons find rest in the hands of fools becomes a truly shocking understatement when you see the sheer unhinged lunacy of the final scene.

There is no doubt that Kuran, et al, did a great job of getting this footage together. William Shatner on narration and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra for the score are perhaps the part of the most overdramatic combination in the history of documentaries, but these are more forgivable (they are almost a parody of themselves) than this overly sanitized version of American nuclear testing which overlooks practically all of the pertinent policy and moral issues.As a film about some of the straight technical aspects of nuclear testing, though, it does a good job of explaining the purpose of each of the American tests it covers (it only covers the period between 1945-1964, though). The worst part was the final sequence of the testing of the Chinese atomic bomb. This is a HEAVILY edited sequence (the original can be found in the Chinese propaganda film, "Mao's Little Red Video" -- obviously not objective in any sense in its original, but amazingly made even less so by Kuran) splicing MULTIPLE nuclear tests into one sequence with the obvious intent on capitalizing on the effect of "Mongol hoards" in gas masks. He also redoes the audio, removing the narration explaining the technical purposes of their tests and why their soldiers were doing the maneuvers that they were. It is highly suspicious that a director would take the time to outline the technical aspects of American tests as a de-politicizing tactic, and then do exactly the opposite for the Chinese tests.As a documentary about nuclear testing, it fails. Nuclear testing was NOT just about big explosions and the technical ramifications of them -- it contains issues of politics, the environment, diplomacy, morality, ethics, history, social policy, so forth and so forth and so forth. None of which were adequately covered in this film, which concerns itself almost completely with technical aspects -- and so attempts to devoid itself of any of the necessary responsibility of properly addressing the issues of nuclear testing.Visually, it is stunning. It is a valid testament to Kuran's technical abilities. In terms of content, it fails in a variety of ways, ranging from omission to deceptive editing.Teenage boys who delight in big bangs will no doubt love this. For those looking for a more informative and sophisticated documentary about atomic testing, try "The Atomic Cafe" instead. If you are looking for large explosions with only the most technical of context, then you might enjoy this film. For some, I fear, this is the most favored way to deal with nuclear testing -- one deliberately devoid of complexity and controversy.