Review – Downwind

This documentary about nuclear fallout takes an excellent first step and then falls flat on its face. Obviously the real tragedy of the government’s testing of atomic weapons is its deadly effect on anyone unfortunate enough to be downwind when radioactive debris falls back to earth. If they had to pick just one group of victims, it makes perfect sense to start with the indigenous people who were removed from their own land and then irradiated where they were forced to settle. But from there the production moves on to other casualties – particularly the Hollywood folk who worked on The Conqueror – who the producers must have thought would be more relatable to white audiences. The story also largely omits key elements of the lethal farce, particularly the sheer uselessness of the testing. This isn’t a bad movie, but it could have been a lot better. Mildly amusing