Product Details

• Actors: Kilon Bauno, John Smitherman, Warren Austin, Bernard Baruch, W.H.P. Blandy
• Directors: Robert Stone
• Producers: Robert Stone, Jonathan Weisgall, Kevin Rafferty, Shelby Stone
• Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Video Group
• DVD Release Date: December 30, 2003
• Run Time: 56 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000TPAMO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #96,016 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Radio Bikini" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Nominated for an Academy Award(r) as well as the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Radio Bikini is a sensational, eye-opening film that gets to the bottom of one of the most terrifying tragedies of the nuclear age. Hailed by The Los Angeles Times as "an outstanding achievement on all levels," this classic documentary serves as a chilling reminder of what happens when man's quest for power surpasses his ability to control its devastating effects. In the tradition of THE ATOMIC CAFE, RADIO BIKINI transports us back to The Cold War, a terrifying time when the threat of nuclear war was part of daily life. Told in a hauntingly perceptive tone, this critically-acclaimed film is one of the most powerful and insightful films ever made on the overwhelming destructiveness of nuclear power. By using extraordinary and rarely seen archival footage, much of which was once kept classified by the U.S. government, director Robert Stone brings to light the largely untold story of Bikini Atoll. A peaceful and tropical island located in the Pacific, it was the unwitting sight of a series of high-profile atomic bomb tests conducted by the US in 1946. With startling eyewitness accounts by a naval serviceman and the chief of the native Bikinians, the film reveals the stark reality of these tests-thought to be harmless, they instead left Bikini Island uninhabitable for over 40 years and exposed thousands of sailors to heavy doses of radiation. The film's virtually surreal footage of sailors fishing in contaminated waters, mushroom clouds filling the skies, and top level government officials professing the safety of the tests leaves us in utter shock and disbelief-how could something so horrific gone untold for so long?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Speechless, January 14, 2004

By	emma "Em" (East Coast) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

My Dad was on the USS Reclaimer - lucky to still be alive. Not many people realize what a controversial, scary event this was when it happened. People honestly thought the world was going to be destroyed and yet, hundreds of teenagers were exposed to massive amounts of radiation. As the video ends, you will be sitting there with your mouth hanging open. A must see.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DH, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

Best documentary I have ever seen. The ending leaves you speechless and in deep thought. Everyone should see this movie at least once. Should be required of all high school/college students.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Radio(active) Bikini, July 18, 2004

By	Found Highways (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

"I'm making a film. If you want to learn history, read a book." - - Robert Stone

Robert Stone's Academy Award-nominated documentary, Radio Bikini, teaches history by presenting the story of the 1946 atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands using US government film. With hundreds of cameras recording the blasts in the Bikini Atoll, Operation Crossroads must have been the most extensively recorded event in history up to that time.

The story of smiling sailors before the test (putting animals in cages to test anti-radiation substances, drinking 3-2 beer, playing volleyball) alternates with the reminiscences of a sailor who suffered horrendous effects after returning to the area of the blast.

The chief of the island describes the day the Navy came and told him the United States needed to move his people and destroy their home. He'd never even seen a motion picture camera before that day.

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov spars with US representative Bernard Baruch at the United Nations about which country has more peaceful intentions for the atom. Protesters march against the Bikini tests.

Stone's comment on film vs. history quoted above is misleading. He doesn't take the Jerry Bruckheimer approach to filmmaking (Blackhawk Down, Pearl Harbor) that dismisses historical accuracy in favor of an exciting story. He's just aware of the shortcomings of film to explain an historical event. (The interview with Stone included on the DVD is very interesting.)

Radio Bikini proves that film can show the truth, even if it can't show the whole truth. The physical effects of the Bikini tests we see are real. Cameras don't have to (as they often do in the age of embedded reporters) lie by showing the exultation of soldiers after combat but turning away from the dead and scarred bodies of soldiers and civilians.

(ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION: If you're interested in how film has treated history, see the Spring 2004 issue of Cineaste. There's a forty-page supplement with comments by historians like Simon Schama and Eric Hobsbawm and historical filmmakers like John Sayles and Costa Gavras.)