HALF LIFE

In March 1954, as part of their intensive nuclear testing programme during the Cold War, the United States dropped a hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Hundreds of people on the Marshall Islands were subjected to the nuclear fallout of the explosion codenamed Operation Bravo and suffered the devastating consequences.

Dennis O'Rourke's compelling documentary, made in 1985, combines US Defence Department footage with contemporary interviews with the victims of Operation Bravo. It offers a damning incitement of the American government's actions, claiming that they were fully aware of the impact that the explosion would have on the Islands downwind of Bikini Atoll. The chilling suggestion that the inhabitants were cynically used as human guinea pigs is deeply affecting, especially when we are confronted with the bemusement of the Islanders: ''We didn't understand our illness or what they were doing to us." This is a parable of a past event, which will have consequences that reach far into the future.

"You could put it this way: My films are like stones thrown into the middle of the road and which people have to get round." Dennis O'Rourke

"Profoundly affecting... impressive for its absence of hysteria. The prevailing tone is a kind of ironic melancholy... no one will quickly forget those beautiful unaccusing faces as they tell their story without rancour." Evan Williams, The Australian

Award: Peace Film Award, Berlinale 1986, Director's Award Sundance Film Festival