More A Prophesy Than A Movie
This movie, “The China Syndrome” (1979), about a potential ecological and human disaster at a nuclear powered electricity generating plant opened in the USA on the 12th March 1979. Only 12 days later, on the 28th March 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania came close to total meltdown in an accident that closely (and somewhat eerily) mirrored the scenario portrayed in the movie. Seven years later, on April 25th 1986, the unthinkable actually happened, when the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine, again closely following the plot of this movie, spewed its radioactive poison across much of Europe, killing countless thousands of people and leaving the area surrounding the plant a nuclear wasteland for generations to come.
Naturally, the disaster at the Three Mile Island plant didn’t harm the film at the box office, coming so soon after its cinema release!
The film has three co-stars, Michael Douglas, (who also produced) Jane Fonda, and the brilliant Jack Lemmon. Fonda plays TV reporter Kimberly Wells, who along with her hippie, left wing cameraman Richard Adams (Douglas) is sent to shoot a TV feature on the power plant. Kimberley, while ambitious, is no Pulitzer Prize winner, and is used by the TV station to cover only “soft” stories with no real hard news potential.
But while being shown around the plant by the senior shift supervisor Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon) an emergency takes place in the control room, which Adams secretly captures on video despite being ordered to shut down his camera. As the ground trembles and shakes, and technicians run around like headless chickens trying desperately to remedy the problem, it becomes patently obvious that all is not well with the safety of the plant. On this occasion the potential accident is brought back under control, but not before Kimberley and Adams realise they have inadvertently stumbled on what could be a major scoop.
I enjoyed this movie just as much 26 years after its original release as I did the first time around. The underlying anti-nuclear message is just as powerful and relevant today as it was in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
Jane Fonda is excellent as the crusading, ambitious reporter, and Michael Douglas convincing as her bolshie, anti-establishment cameraman. But, for me, the actor who claims the lion’s share of the plaudits is the late, great Jack Lemmon. His portrayal of angst ridden, overworked, plant supervisor Jack Godell struggling with his conscience is truly inspired, and rightly won Lemmon an Oscar nomination for best actor. Unfortunately, he came up against another “great” that particular year, when Dustin Hoffman lifted the award for his portrayal of the father in “Kramer v Kramer”. Lemmon did manage to win a BAFTA gong for best actor though, along with the same award at the Cannes Film Festival. His co-star Fonda lifted the BAFTA award for Best Actress.
The DVD that I have was released back in October 2003, and has been re-mastered to improve the colour definition, and been given a new Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. It’s sadly lacking in any extras, but there is now a Region 1 (USA) “Special Edition” that was released by Sony in October of last year (2004) that seemingly is better endowed with extra features.
This movie comes with my highest possible recommendation. If you’re an advocate of the use of nuclear power to generate electricity, I defy you to feel the same way after watching this movie!
© KenJ May 2007Read full review
