Half Life

About This Film

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Festival Year: 1987
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Film Type: Feature
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Animated: No
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Filmed In: Australia
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English Subtitles: No
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Production Year: 1985
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Captions: None

Film Overview

A compelling and beautifully crafted film dealing with the effects of the US nuclear tests on the lives of inhabitants of the Marshall Islands, dots on the map of the Pacific Ocean. With great skill and outrage, Australian filmmaker O'Rourke combines recently declassified US Defense Department footage on the Bravo Test of 1954 with contemporary film and interviews of the Marshallese who on that occasion were not evacuated from their island. US officials claim the incident was simply a mistake. Slowly, meticulously, and to ironic steel guitar music, the film reveals a chilling picture of a cynical experiment conducted by the US on the effects of radiation on a human population.