Documentary "Hiroshima: The Race to Apocalypse": The Atomic Bomb, But at What Cost?

The countdown begins, uncertainty reigns. Five… four… three… two… one. In Alamogordo, in the middle of the New Mexico desert, a handful of Manhattan Project scientists watch as the first nuclear mushroom cloud rises into the sky. A veritable oil fireball that annihilates everything within two kilometers. The Trinity test is a success, leaving its spectators torn between pride and dread.

A major milestone in the race for the atomic bomb, initially launched against the Third Reich to counter the massacres perpetrated by the Nazi regime. Since 1939, the Germans have been implementing their nuclear program and have even achieved the first atomic fission in history. Until then neutral, the United States entered the war after Pearl Harbor, making the atomic issue a major concern.

Every detail of the scientific and military journeys of the two enemy powers is recounted in this illuminating documentary. Narrated by the raspy voice of Vincent Lindon , the one-hour-forty-five-minute film directed by David Korn-Brzoza covers all the stages of designing the ultimate weapon, using colorized period footage. It vividly sheds light on the behind-the-scenes work of nuclear research, exposing its key figures, led by Robert Oppenheimer .

The documentary also begins a reflection on the philosophical usefulness of such a destructive weapon. Throughout the design of "Little Boy," the scientists question themselves, aware that their undertaking will change the course of history, for better or worse. Doubts are expressed during the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima , when the co-pilot of Enola Gay , the transport plane, asks himself: "My God, what have we done?" A question that still resonates today, at a time when several countries are also trying to acquire the atomic bomb.