Missile

In this wonderful and quietly devastating documentary, Wiseman visits with the members of the U.S. Air Force who would be ordered to launch our strategic nuclear missiles in the event of total war.

The story progresses matter-of-factly through classrooms and training exercises to final evaluations. Wiseman's familiar narrative-free style is particularly effective here, because the subject matter is so extreme and yet the participants seem relatively at ease with what they are about. The result is that the tension and amazement that are not apparent on-screen instead build up in the viewer. The final 15 minutes contained a revelation that taught me something about myself I had not previously known.

I recommend this film highly to everyone. My only warning is that you need to hang in through the endless military and technical jargon, which goes almost entirely unexplained to no ill effect. It's not what matters here anyway.