The China Syndrome (Special Edition)
by James Bridges
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jack Lemmon, James Hampton, Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, Scott BradyDirector: James Bridges
Brand: Sony
Producer: Michael Douglas
Writer: James Bridges
Producer: Bruce Gilbert
Producer: Jack Smith Jr.
Producer: James Nelson
Writer: Mike Gray
Writer: T.S. Cook
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Unknown
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 122 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-26
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of The China Syndrome (Special Edition)
Movie Review: The real guardian angel is called mediatic exposition
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is of course old (1979) and it is based on hypotheses that come from the late 60s and the early 70s. In 1971, nuclear physicist Ralph Lapp used the concept "China syndrome" to describe a special melt-down in a nuclear plant where the burn-through of the reactor vessel by the melting nuclear core would go down and penetrate the concrete below it and into the soil below the reactor right through to China on the other side of the earth from the USA. Of course since then we have had several severe accidents, including Chernobyl. That China Syndrome never occurred and the evolution of this technology is getting safer and safer. The film should not frighten us because of the nuclear dimension of it. The fear we may have is quite different and the film shows it very well. Like all new technology, there may be some danger and security is primordial but security is expensive. The interest of that technology is that it can produce electricity at a very low cost, especially since the treatment of the waste is not included in that cost. And when it is compared with the cost of other types of electricity it is highly competitive and it would be even if the treatment of the waste was taken into account. You can imagine in the 70s, after the first oil crisis, how some private interests were only looking at the profit margin when that "cheap" electricity was put on the market at standard market price. There was then a strong temptation to even cut on some corners to increase the margin, including security and regular safety checks. The point of the film is that the only way to prevent that kind of situation or catastrophe is to be crystal clear on transparency. The film shows that such transparency is practically impossible when the interests of a few people or companies are at stake. They are ready to eliminate in any way possible those who may stand in their path. How can we be that transparent on such tricky and sticky grounds? Some may say: nationalize. Chernobyl shows it is not necessarily the good solution. Some may say: let a serious, objective and relentless commission look into the business all the time. How can we be sure bureaucrats will be honest if they are not exposed in their actions all the time? Then there is only one solution: the media must have access to all the data necessary for them to give the public a fair and objective picture. It is not always easy for journalists to be able to say what they know and it is very difficult for journalists to get the information they need, and what's more reliable information, which means coming from everyone involved in the problem. It is so easy to blackmail an employee into silence. It is so easy to blackmail a journalist into silence. So far there is no guarantee that a journalist will be able to get to everyone concerned and to get the full information he needs. Only a judge can get that and a journalist does not have that power. Will transparency never exist? We may be inclined to saying so. Then bye-bye objectivity and good morning invisible menaces.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID
Summary of The China Syndrome (Special Edition)
A nuclear power executive discovers a dangerous accident and takes action to expose the coever-up in this tense thriller. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/26/2004 Starring: Jack Lemmon Wilford Brimley Run time: 122 minutes Rating: Pg Director: James BridgesJames Bridges (Urban Cowboy, Bright Lights, Big City) directed this 1979 film that became a worldwide sensation when, just weeks after its release, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred. Jane Fonda (Klute, Julia) plays a television news reporter who is not taken very seriously until a routine story at the local nuclear power plant leads her to what may be a cover-up of epic proportions. She and her cameraman, played by Michael Douglas (Wall Street, American President), hook up with a whistleblower at the plant, played by Jack Lemmon (Save the Tiger, Missing). Together they try to uncover the dangers lurking beneath the nuclear reactor and avoid being silenced by the business interests behind the plant. Though topical, the film (produced by Douglas) works on its own as a socially conscious thriller that entertains even as it spurs its audience to think. --Robert Lane
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