Home Page | Alphabetic Index | Ratings Index | Web Resources

The China Syndrome (1979)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
How many films are so accurate that, even though they're fictional, they could easily be documentaries? Schindler's List is one. The China Syndrome is another. In this case we see the greatest fears of the Nimby culture unearthed when a nuclear power station almost goes out of control and the men-in-suits cover it up. However, unknown to them, the entire incident is covertly filmed by a visiting TV news-crew.

Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) and Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) are the team visiting on that fateful day with only the intention of finishing a light piece for the news. When the plant brushes by meltdown Kimberly sees this as her chance to break into hard news while Richard just wants to nail the nuclear industry. The TV management don't see it that way though and refuse to show the piece, which is just the start of the intrigue. The plant management are just as keen to prevent anyone seeing the film since they have a new plant coming on-line and each days delay costs $500,000. Here we meet the crux of the problem - money. Nuclear plants cost a lot of money and the management will do anything to keep the electricity flowing.

When Kimberly and Richard are dissuaded from their investigation they start to look even harder, sensing a cover-up. Drawn into their search is Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon), the foreman in charge during the incident, who has his own suspicions. Although Jack loves the plant, and has worked for the company all of his life, he knows that something is wrong and when he trys to tell people all he meets is a brick wall. The efforts of the news-crew to publicise Jacks evidence of corruption lead to a fatal and gripping conclusion, all within the power-plant and with the press looking on in horror.

The power of this film is more than just the acting, although Lemmon is superb, and more than just the script. It is that this scenario could really happen (Three-Mile Island!) and that the news-crew are not immune to the danger that they uncover. Kimberly and Richard are just as scared as anyone else when they find out how close to disaster they, and California, came. The atmosphere produced in the plants' control-room is heart-stoppingly intense as we teeter on the brink of nuclear apocalypse and pray for salvation. The light-relief is non-existent (there's no background music) and that characters are uniformly well-acted. I recommend The China Syndrome to everyone as an example of the dangers of money and corruption.

Home Page | Alphabetic Index | Ratings Index | Web Resources