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The Bomb

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The Bomb

2016

55m

Documentary

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4 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Filmmakers use archival footage and animation to explore the culture surrounding nuclear weapons, the fascination they inspire and the perverse appeal they still exert.

Jordan Mintzer

The Hollywood Reporter

This one-hour assault on the senses is less about informing the viewer than about jarring them into the realization that we are no less safe now than during the height of the Cold War.

Feb 11, 2017

Full Review

Bilge Ebiri

Village Voice

I enjoyed it. I'm still not sure if I was supposed to.

Apr 27, 2016

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Julie McDowall

The National (Scotland)

Watching these awful scenes without the intrusion of a narrator was hugely powerful, and the film ends with a sombre, silent warning.

Jun 28, 2018

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Christopher Campbell

Thrillist

A kaleidoscopic montage of archival footage of military exercises, nuclear bomb tests and more unnerving material, some of it more beautiful than you'd prefer to acknowledge.

Feb 9, 2018

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Audience Member

The footage is amazing and diverse. The music, if you're into electronic music, is ambient and deep emotive techno, with careful sound design. But this movie is more than the sum of its parts. The footage is synced to produce a mesmerizing, polyrhythmic, hi-octane audiovisual cocktail. As an extended music video, this would already be legendary. But it is more even than that: there is a clear and resounding prosocial message, skillfully delivered, by both music and image. As a documentary it is in style of "Koyaanisqatsi", but perhaps better in many ways!) Not to be missed.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

Enthralling and entrancing, The Bomb combines archival nuclear test footage and Cold War propaganda films, set to modern electronic trip-hop by The Acid. The narration of traditional documentary is eschewed as the images are allowed to speak for themselves, unfiltered. The result strikes an awesome and terrifying emotional nerve, one that we have grown numb to in the wake of the Cold War, as one realizes the still present risk of a nuclear apocalypse through accident, proliferation, and escalation.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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Audience Member

Watched a couple minutes of it waiting for the narrator to start speaking. I'm not sure how they're able to call it a documentary.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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Audience Member

Awesome compilation. Great soundtrack by the acid. Would love to see this in IMAX THEATER.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

A Reopening of my eyes... to the fact that Nuclear Weapons exist.. a fact I do forget at times. Man's hunger for power built them. Man is still hungry for power.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Kevin Ford

Director

Smriti Keshari

Director

Eric Schlosser

Director

Smriti Keshari

Producer

Eric Schlosser

Producer

Kevin Ford

Film Editing

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Synopsis

Filmmakers use archival footage and animation to explore the culture surrounding nuclear weapons, the fascination they inspire and the perverse appeal they still exert.

Director: Kevin Ford, Smriti Keshari, Eric Schlosser
Producer: Smriti Keshari, Eric Schlosser
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 16, 2017
Runtime: 55m

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