My performance in science class during my high school years could be pretty much summed up by the image of an exploding Bunsen burner, so when I was handed two science-related docos to review for Rialto Channel’s Double Exposure documentary series I have to admit that I was a little scared! I needn’t have been though as both proved to be a bloody great watch – expert wielder of a Bunsen or not.
My performance in science class during my high school years could be pretty much summed up by the image of an exploding Bunsen burner, so when I was handed two science-related docos to review for Rialto Channel’s Double Exposure documentary series I have to admit that I was a little scared! I needn’t have been though as both proved to be a bloody great watch – expert wielder of a Bunsen or not.
First up is PARTICLE FEVER, which I must admit started to blow my mind early on when I read the synopsis. The film brings viewers back to the year 2007, where work was underway in rural Switzerland to build the Large Hadron Collider, essentially bringing science a step closer to proton-smashing research that could reveal new information concerning the creation of life. Granted access to the facility and its employees, lucky director Mark Levinson commences the movie at a point of suspicion, with those in charge of making the collider work openly wondering if it will actually work.
Thankfully, the sheer amazing-ness overrides the science jargon early on, and I have to agree with critic Christy Lemire who says: “You don't have to be a physicist—you don't even have to be good at math, I can certainly attest to that—to enjoy the energy, camaraderie and giddy thrill of discovery that radiates from the documentary…”
Levinson earned a doctoral degree in particle physics from Berkeley before veering into film, and producer David Kaplan, a professor of theoretical particle physics at Johns Hopkins, has also been active on History Channel and National Geographic science programs. This detail has zero effect on the end result for a layperson like me however, which was a relief. Despite being a physicist as well as a filmmaker, director Levinson has taken a potentially daunting topic - the search for the elusive and highly significant Higgs boson particle, also known as the "God particle"- and turned it into a movie that's not just easy to understand but also actual fun to watch. It also has a surprisingly emotional ending, when we see aged British physicist Peter Higgs, for whom the elusive particle was named, removing his glasses and dabbing his eyes at the end result of years of research.
On a purely superficial level, it’s also beautifully shot, which helps, with incredible footage of not just the collider itself but also of the striking landscape surrounding the remote Swiss lab. Think snow-covered French Alps against a clear, ultra blue sky… and then some.
If you follow the news, you know how this multibillion-dollar adventure ends, but watch anyway. PARTICLE FEVER may be a gripping insider account of the world's biggest scientific experiment but it’s also a damn good film.
Friday night’s offering is PANDORA’S PROMISE, a documentary about the history and future of nuclear power. It asks the question: “Is nuclear power the solution to global warming?” and attempts to make the counterintuitive case that as an energy source, the glow of radioactivity is actually the green choice.
Director Robert Stone, who chronicled the start of the environmental movement in his 2009 film "Earth Days," enlists a group of pro-nuclear experts that includes Stewart Brand, Gwyneth Cravens and Mark Lynas, some of whom came around to the idea of nuclear power after initially being against it. This makes their viewpoints even more acceptable to those currently sitting on the fence, and demonstrates how and why mankind's most feared and controversial technological discovery is now passionately embraced by many of those who once led the charge against it.
The film aims to inspire a serious and realistic debate over what is without question the most important question of our time: how do we continue to power modern civilization without destroying it?
As someone who was born in New Zealand and lived through the Rainbow Warrior bombing but has spent significant time in France driving between cooling towers, it’s a subject I am yet to make a call on. I’ll admit that on first watch PANDORA’S PROMISE is insanely one-sided, but makes a good point or two, and if nothing else serves to use its status as a damn watchable doco as a starting point for a discussion of a very important topic.