Pandora's Promise

Plot

The atomic bomb and meltdowns like Fukushima have made nuclear power synonymous with global disaster. But what if we've got nuclear power wrong?

Cast

Made by Robert Stone, a totally unbias gentleman clearly who also did another similar documentary called Atomic Hope (2022).

Verdict

I becoming rather disillusioned when it comes to documentaries, I miss the days it was just a person doing a documentary film on a subject without bias nor agenda. Now the vast majority of documentaries feel forced, feel like propaganda, feel like they've been bought and paid for by an industry, feel politically motivated! I expected Pandora's Promise to feel the same but it doesn't, not exactly anyway.

Many people are saying this plays out like a commercial for nuclear energy and though I get the logic I'd disagree but it's far from unbiased.

You see it presents itself as featuring those who are pro-nuclear, those anti-nuclear and those on the fence. The trouble is, I don't believe it for a second. They're all pro-nuclear playing the role of people who need convincing that nuclear is good and their ridiculous one sided education is basically the entire documentary.

Does it address the criticisms? Yes, but it does it at such a gloriously skew angle it glosses over it and misdirects the viewer. The thing is amidst the misdirection are lies, and I don't appreciate this. When you resort to lies to get your point across, your point is lost entirely.

Pandora's Promise isn't a propaganda documentary, but it does have an agenda.

Rants

There are various accomplishments that governments and corporations have done involving swaying people into voting/fighting against their best interests such as convincing people in the US they don't want healthcare! That one always astounds me but what the fuel industry has done swaying people in favour of environmentally damaging options and making them hate environmentalists and valid alternatives is incredible!

The Good

Relatively well made

The Bad

Dishonest Agenda laden The dynamic of supposed anti-nuclear gone pro-nuclear is insulting.

This film interviews several environmentalists and peace campaigners who have changed their mind on nuclear, and explores the reasons why they have changed their mind from "anti" to "pro". The film doesn't gloss over the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima; some of the speakers visit these locations in person and acknowledge their unease in a thoughtful way, but they also press on and discuss quantitatively whether people have been poorly informed about the actual dangers. The film is a myth-buster, which gives the open-minded viewer the chance to compare polemics with facts that the viewer can verify. The film makers take a radiation dose meter around the world, showing on screen the readings in capital cities, inside a nuclear power station, in aeroplanes, on a beach in Brazil (to which people flock for its natural radiation), near Fukushima, and near Chernobyl. Viewers who like me love numbers are advised to take a sheet of paper and pen to note down the readings at the beach, near Fukushima, and near Chernobyl. No doubt the main response to this film will be a brawl between "pro" and "anti" people, most of whom have not seen the film. They all need to calm down and watch this film.

Some people compare this film with An Inconvenient Truth. I think Pandora's Promise is a better documentary.

Contrary to what other reviewers say, it is not "propaganda by the nuclear industry" - only a couple of the people involved in the film were ever employed by the nuclear industry; most of the people interviewed are genuinely independent thinkers, mainly environmentalists, with no hidden agenda, who have taken the trouble to look at facts and data, and who have been willing to imagine that their opinions might be wrong. This is a trait to be admired.

See the film, study the facts, then decide. (And, incidentally, I should say the film's photography is great!)

The good: It's good to see a film that advocates science and reason for the purpose of spreading an important message that is far overdue. I think the interviewees were well selected from pools of both scientific experts and relate-able, intelligent, concerned citizens who all present the overwhelming and long-known evidence for nuclear power's safety and use.

The bad: A 45-60 min version could have been equally informative. There's a lot of bad editing and poor documentary style, sometimes laughably so, and the narrative thread gets rather weak as it's stretched to meet minimum feature length. Many poor pro-nuclear arguments and some inflammatory material is thrown in the mix which diminishes film's documentary integrity.

I am an advocate of objectivity in public policy debates: Attacking the Nebula and breaking through the fog of misconceptions. I found Pandora's Promise an excellent film to re-ignite the dialog and cause people to re-examine their nuclear/anti-nuclear positions; hopefully with objectivity. The film will not likely convert one from an anti-nuclear bent to a pro-nuclear one—the topic is too complex and emotionally deep an issue and an hour and a half is too short a time for a real debate. But rather, the film should cause people to question the whether or not their beliefs are based on sound-bites or by evidence.

Environmentalists traditionally have been anti-nuclear particularly since nuclear pollution is such an emotionally frightening topic and not easy to put into context. It therefore is quite natural to believe that zero emissions is the right number. But as carbon dioxide, which was once considered a benign gas, enters into our public debate with greater concern and frequency, emissions of carbon dioxide, indeed any kind of emissions, become more and more relevant. This makes Pandora's Promise timely and relevant.

By presenting environmentalists who once were anti-nuclear but now see it a different way, and by interviewing some experts in the nuclear field, Robert Stone, takes us through a journey of discovery, as we see how some of the most common perceptions about nuclear power have little connection to solid reason. The overarching theme of the film is that when presented with facts and well-grounded research—i.e. objectivity—old anti-nuclear positions can be reversed.

As I watched the film, I made a few notes about some of the information presented and afterward spent a bit of time on the researching some of the points presented. Largely, I found good corroboration and am comfortable saying the film fairly addressed some of the many nuclear myths perpetuated over time.

While the film is largely balanced, it does succumb to the temptation of attacking an extreme position in making its case. A "60 Minutes"-type ambush of the vocal anti-nuke Helen Caldicott, making her look the fool is not debate. She is a side-show with unsupportable viewpoints. Attacking her only serves to make a nuclear advocate rejoice, but does little to inform a thinking anti-nuke. Another weakness in the film is a shallow and overly narrow handling of nuclear technology. The film dwells far too long on the integral fast reactor (IFR). The advantages and disadvantages of an IFR is in of itself a wide and broad topic which could take many hours and days to adequately explore. But there is no IFR in operation nor in construction today, so it seems quite odd when speaking about the merits of nuclear power, so much time was spent on a reactor design which is not part of the nuclear infrastructure.

So, while there is a great deal more to debate and discuss on the topic of nuclear power, Pandora's Promise presents a great case for a renewed debate, particularly amongst those interested in energy and global climate changes.

I had read one review that labeled this as a "mess" but I still wanted to watch it. After doing so, I found it to be very informative and I learned much more about nuclear energy than I have seen anywhere else. I have to believe that the reviewer who labeled it simply as a mess, could in fact be someone who is so against nuclear energy that they feel others should not see opposing viewpoints.

I thought it was very well compiled and the information and its accompanying documentation flowed smoothly. Yes, it may have a few segments that depicted some who disagree with the nuclear energy as being uninformed but, after watching the film, I have to agree.

It was interesting to see how some who were adamantly against this form of energy in the past, which includes a number of experts in that field, have changed their minds and are now in favor of it after researching the data.

I was also not aware of the different types of reactors and, how corners were cut to save money in just about every location where accidents have occurred with the remaining, being due to human error in that safety fail-safes were ignored, that could have prevented the accident as was the case in Three Mile Island.

Whether you are pro or against this form of energy, I would have to say that I highly recommend this film as one to include in your quest to be informed on the subject.