The Nuclear Conspiracy(1986)
directed by: Rainer Erler
cast: Birgit Doll, Albert Fortell, Mark Lee
A billion dollar shipload of nuclear waste, the most valuable but also most dangerous cargo ever to cross the ocean, represents a desirable target for ruthless profiteers. Concentrated death, in the wrong hands, is profitable merchandise. The owners believe that the consignment is bound for a high-tech recycling plant in Australia but DAVID, a freelance journalist with the London based NEWS agency, is suspicious. He is hot on the trail hoping to make a scoop with the scandal of the century. But the crooks are already after him and when he telephones his wife, SUSAN, the line is cut.Susan, who hasn’t heard from David for weeks, knows that there is something wrong and that she must help him, but nobody wants to know because the risks are too great. Finally STEVEN, a photojournalist for the NEWS agency, decides to assist her in the hope that he will realize a front page serial to NEWS from his involvement. Susan goes through David’s files and discovers photographs of a nuclear power plant and of a
freight-liner, the »Stella Polaris«. The ship, which is registered in Marseille, transports nuclear waste. Susan goes to Marseille where she is hunted down and lucky to escape with her life.Undeterred she and Steven travel to New York to interview Hopkins, a NEWS man with inside knowledge of the «Stella Maris« but, soon after their meeting, he is shot dead in his apartment. They now have reason to believe that David had smuggled himself on board the freighter when it set sail for Singapore.In Singapore they trace two crew members of the cargo-liner. Both are suffering from radiation burns but they confirm that Australia is the ship’s ultimate destination. They fly to Perth where they track down another sailor but, before they can interrogate him, he is run down by a car. It is an Aborigine who reveals that there is a construction site in the middle of the desert and that gigantic steel containers have been left there. They locate the spot by helicopter and their search ends when they discover David who has been left for dead under an abandoned truck. Protected from the sun and sustained only by a container of cooling liquid he has survived.The quest is at an end. It is a time for mutual congratulations. The press gather round for the moment of triumph but the celebration is short lived. The recycling plant does not exist and the steel containers are empty. The deadly contents have already found a new owner…
Η σύνοψη αυτού του τεμαχίου ,γραμμένη από τα τσακάλια της Atlas films ,(της εταιρίας που διένειμε μεταξύ άλλων τις ταινίες του Μυλωνάκου στο εξωτερικό) το κάνει να φαίνεται σαν υπερπαραγωγή στα πρότυπα του “Συνδρόμου της Κίνας”.Μην τρελαθούμε κιόλας…η ταινία με το γερμανικό τίτλο σιδηρόδρομο “News – Bericht über eine Reise in eine strahlende Zukunft”(das heiβt: Aνταπόκριση από ένα ταξίδι σε ένα αστραφτερο μέλλον)είναι ένα συμπαθητικό πλήν ξεπερασμένο περιβαλλοντικό θρίλερ με κοσμοπολίτικο χαρακτήρα.Ψαρώσαμε με το γεγονός οτι έχει γυριστει σε Μασσαλία,Αυστραλία,Νέα Υόρκη,Νορμανδία και Σιγκαπούρη(Ήμαρτον!),αλλά το φίλμ ούτε την πυρίτιδα ανακαλύπτει,ούτε τον κύκλο τετραγωνίζει.Συμπαθητικό αποκύημα του ψυχρού πολέμου,της απειλής του πυρηνικού Ολοκαυτώματος και της ισορροπίας του τρόμου,θα συγκινήσει μόνο ακτιβιστές της Greenpeace.
Atomkraft? Nein.Danke!
Mόνο αν δεν έχετε τίποτα καλύτερο να δείτε…
Filmed on location in Normandy, Marseille, New York, Singapore and Australia “The Nuclear Conspiracy” is a slightly dull but inexplicably watchable environmental thriller.
Apart from the cosmopolitan factor this film has Birgit Doll who is a plausible character you can actually care for, as the female lead.Other than that the plot is sort of labyrinthine,not complicated by any means,it’s just crammed with little details in order to get the plot to become more credible,but this overanalysis of the script doesn’t leave much room for any real tension.The climax is quite pedestrian and leaves a rather bittersweet taste.
Overall,this flick seems to be a pretty dated affair stemming right from the Chernobyl era and inspired by the horrors generated by the misuse of nuclear energy.Since innocence in this planet is long since gone,I doubt anyone will really bother to watch a movie that deals with a subject matter that is old news.
Anyway,Euro fans in shortage of available movies to watch or with low expectations won’t lose much if they kill some time with this one.