The story of the atomic
age
Save the Planet is a fast-paced
montage film history of the atomic age and the escalating debate
over nuclear power. This unique documentary was shown by MUSE
(Musicians United for Safe Energy) at the Madison Square Garden
Benefit Concerts staged in New York, September 19-23, 1979. Those
concerts are dramatically explored in the feature film No Nukes which features performances by Jackson Browne, Bonnie
Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor,
the Doobie Brothers, and many others.
Save the Planet opens
with early 1950's footage lauding the benefits of "irradiated
food," and shows an Army chaplain describing, in glowing
terms, a mushroom cloud that contains "all the colors of
the rainbow." It features striking footage by noted cinematographer
Gerald Feil covering Three Mile Island and a march through South
Dakota's Black Hills to protest uranium mining on sacred Indian
lands. Ringing endorsements of the "peaceful atom" from
Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon punctuate the
film and move the audience from the Hiroshima bomb to today's
nuclear plants.
As a brief and powerful excursion into the nuclear age, Save
the Planet received enthusiastic ovations from 100,000 of
the world's toughest critics- the New York rock and roll audience,
which filled Madison Square Garden for the MUSE concerts on five
consecutive nights. Award-winning filmmakers Daniel Keller, John
Avildsen, Barbara Kopple and a host of others worked on the project.
The Archives Project, producers of The Atomic Cafe, contributed
several key segments for the production.
Save the Planet is an exciting and innovative tool for
documentary education. It mixes the talents of some of America's
leading filmmakers, musicians and political activists into a rare
dramatic commentary on the origins and key pressure points of
the nuclear debate. Originally shown on a sixty foot screen, this
powerful film can be used by small groups, in classrooms, or in
theaters and halls before large audiences.
The atomic bomb and its tremendous destructive power marked the beginning of the nuclear age. Top: Some of the over 200,000 American soldiers who were deliberately exposed to atomic radiation from nuclear weapons tests. Many of these atomic veterans have now developed cancer and are suing the U.S. government. Above: The roots of the anti-nuclear movement stem back to "Ban the Bomb" demonstrations such as this one in England in the 1950's.
Every President since Dwight Eisenhower has been a supporter of
the "Peaceful Atom." These four make cameo appearances
in Save the Planet.
All over the planet people are working toward
a non-nuclear future. Hundreds of Native Americans and their supporters
march in the Black Hills to protest the mining of uranium on May
6, 1979 and a Spanish anti-nuclear protest.
The peaceful atom and the bomb have been peddled to the public for more than fifty years. An early propaganda road show boosting the Atoms for Peace campaign; An Army Chaplain describing the heavenly beauty of an atomic blast.
Life with a gloved box and the modern family of the Fifties
in their "atomic kitchen" learning the benefits of "irradiated
food".
". . . enormously powerful. . . Save the
Planet is a reminder of the need for action, the need for
the 'war at home' to continue until one day it is won." -David
Laubach, Valley Advocate
Citizens Awareness Network (CAN)
Committee for Nuclear Responsibility
Earth Island Institutehttp://www.earthisland.org/
Institiute for Energy & Environmental Research
Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS)
Safe Energy Communication Council
Southwest Research and Information Center
World Information Service on Energy (WISE)
For more information contact:
Green Mountain Post Films
PO Box 229, Turners Falls, MA 01376
(413)863-4754 * * * Fax: (413)863-8248
email: info@gmpfilms.com
GMP Production *
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Distribution