Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Tiko Marcs "I really liked this movie, I like documentaries about - would it be politics? Or is it not politics? I don't think it's politics but I don't like politics. I liked the whole warfare idea, and I don't know a lot about it, and I feel like people should be educated about it. I had no idea about any of this, and it's an important part of history. It's heart breaking. It's heartbreaking to see all of the lives that can't return to their homeland. I've seen it twice. I had to watch it in history class. The very end, when one of the interviewed people was zoomed out on and the full effect of his radiation was revealed was my favourite part. Watching the bomb go off was my favourite. I didn't like the political montage, but I liked every other part of it. I'd love to watch it again, so maybe 4/5. I like the music too." - Sophia4/5 - Thomas

sddavis63 This is a superb documentary and a very sombre film perhaps to be expected from the subject matter. With World War II over, the United States now engages in peaceful testing of atomic bombs, and the film documents the first of the post-War tests, on Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. The tests were probably inevitable. Once the genie had been let out of the bottle with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it wasn't going to be stuffed back in. After watching this, you do perhaps wish it had been though.You're first disturbed at the uprooting of the inhabitants of Bikini. They have nothing to do with this; they had nothing to do with the recently ended war; they want to be left alone. But the US military forces them off Bikini, because for whatever reason, Bikini is deemed the perfect place to do ongoing atomic testing. You can't help but feel sorry for these people. There are the shots of animals being chained to poles on derelict ships around Bikini Atoll, in preparation for the dropping of the bomb, just to see what will happen to them. I found quite haunting the words of the narrator on a newsreel from the time as the plane carrying the bomb approaches Bikini, "these animals are about to draw their last breaths in the service of humanity." And then there are the American sailors on board the ships that are conducting the testing. They're given no protective clothing. After the second (underwater) test radioactive water is brought into the ships for them to drink and shower in. Was this just ignorance - or were the sailors themselves being used as guinea pigs - as unknowingly as the animals who had just been incinerated? And, of course, there was John Smitherman - a veteran of the tests, who had lost both legs over the years as they had swelled up and eventually burst open, and whose left hand was now swollen and barely recognizable as a hand - a victim of the radiation. Sombre, indeed.As backdrop, there's some of the diplomatic manoeuvring going on, as the United States wants to share this with the world, and the Soviet Union says it has no interest in the bomb. A truly superb documentary. (8/10)

Jordan_Haelend I'll give this one a 10; I wish I'd seen this years ago. The film documents the decision to make the tests, the deportation of the Bikini Islanders to a much smaller island that couldn't support them, the tests themselves, and the aftermath. The latter is poignantly shown by the interview with a naval veteran, Mr. John Smitherman, who witnessed the tests and was poisoned with radiation and lived out his later years suffering horrendously. His injuries are the stuff of some nightmare science-fiction film. Unfortunately, they weren't fictional.There is some footage of Admiral William Blandy, USN, who carried out the tests. I've been told that he became contaminated at the Baker test as well. He died only 8 years later.The naive stupidity of the Navy is paraded for all to see. For me, the most haunting moment is at the end, where we hear Mr. Smitherman's voice-- we see sailors sitting and talking, and some look at the camera while grinning, while over all of this plays haunting, dirge-like music that brings home the truth of Mr. Smitherman's remarks: Crossroads was undoubtedly the beginning of a hideous slow death for many of these people.

tombeaman This is a powerful and disturbing film using archival footage from the Bikini Bomb Tests in 1946. This is not about the use of the Bomb on Japan; instead, it is a study of the immediate post-war test, designed not only for scientific study but also domestic and international relations and to prepare our military for the eventual use of these weapons. Operation Crossroads changed the lives of those people who used to live on Bikini, as well as tens of thousands of our own sailors. There is no narration, only some interviews and the film footage strung together with audio and voiceovers. The film definitely takes the point of view that these tests had unintended consequences; we were playing with new toys that we did not understand...and most of us still do not understand. I cannot give this film a higher rating.