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China Syndrome
A news crew stumbles upon an accident at a major nuclear power facility. The bad news is its happening at a time when there is a general unrest among common public about the lack of safety measures against a nuclear explosion by the energy corporations.
First things out of the way, this movie is no all the president's men or three days of condor. There are significant plot holes and narrative mistakes in the script for this movie. It is one of those 70s movies which deals with general public paranoia about huge corporations taking over government. Of course there is truth to it. The movie has two things going for it. Its a journalism based movie and it questions the role of journalists in the corporate controlled society. It also questions the insidious ways in which huge corporations use man power and then force them to obey the corporate rules.
The news corporation and the main reporter team involved contains Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas. They are stereotypical in the sense she is a good reporter but also she wants to play the ball to get ahead. Michael Douglas is more of a behind the scenes guy who is in it for the passion and he is the truth crusader. Because guys like that get into such invisible jobs because of their pure love for their job. On screen anchors have agendas because they can be famous and be celebrities but camera crew are in it for the love of their job or money and the really good ones just love their job. The movie eases on certain security protocols in the nuclear plant just so the news crew can capture footage. This would never happen in reality.
The real heart of the movie is Jack Lemmon, a senior supervisor at the power plant and the whistle blower. Both the reporters and corporations more or less feel like institutions. Reporters are more after story and corporations are more after killing the story. But the real human character in the movie is Jack Lemmon. The movie cleverly puts him in a position of uncertainty where in he can't totally blame the corporation for not performing regular tests that would cost millions but at the same time he is not 100% sure that his doubts are warranted. It is such an interesting position he is put in that it mirrors reality. The filmmakers does a great job of giving the film a journalist flavor to it. We are immersed in the world of journalism for good chunk of time. Even the energy plant feels like a character. Its feels like something that is huge and strong and secure until it isn't. But the main problem with the movie is two fold. The power of the corporations and the danger they cause to reporters and whistle-blowers is way too kinetic in its execution. The whistle blowing aspect of it all felt rushed. That's probably called a pacing issue. Even the dangerous consequences predicted by Jack Lemmon's characters happens way too fast. He predicts there is something wrong with the plant and the moment they turn the plant back on something does go wrong thus proving that he is right all along. In reality predictions and real events don't happen that fast apart from each other. If it were to happen then it wouldn't be called predictions. It almost takes away from the seriousness of the situation. If what he predicted happened so fast then others would be idiots to not have noticed that. It's like predicting a plane with most of its engines failed will crash. Of course it will crash.
The best thing going for this movie is the way it creates a nuanced situation with several shades of grey and complexity that no single person or party can be blamed for any of it. Even the corporation heads are doing what they feel is right to stay in business. There are no antagonists. Even though they kill a reporter its all in the name of self preservation. The ending is heartbreaking because of what happens to Jack Lemmon and also how that incident brings out the humanity in Jane Fonda's stoic reporter character and a colleague of Jack Lemmon who until that point was just another foot soldier for the corporation.
A news crew stumbles upon an accident at a major nuclear power facility. The bad news is its happening at a time when there is a general unrest among common public about the lack of safety measures against a nuclear explosion by the energy corporations.
First things out of the way, this movie is no all the president's men or three days of condor. There are significant plot holes and narrative mistakes in the script for this movie. It is one of those 70s movies which deals with general public paranoia about huge corporations taking over government. Of course there is truth to it. The movie has two things going for it. Its a journalism based movie and it questions the role of journalists in the corporate controlled society. It also questions the insidious ways in which huge corporations use man power and then force them to obey the corporate rules.
The news corporation and the main reporter team involved contains Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas. They are stereotypical in the sense she is a good reporter but also she wants to play the ball to get ahead. Michael Douglas is more of a behind the scenes guy who is in it for the passion and he is the truth crusader. Because guys like that get into such invisible jobs because of their pure love for their job. On screen anchors have agendas because they can be famous and be celebrities but camera crew are in it for the love of their job or money and the really good ones just love their job. The movie eases on certain security protocols in the nuclear plant just so the news crew can capture footage. This would never happen in reality.
The real heart of the movie is Jack Lemmon, a senior supervisor at the power plant and the whistle blower. Both the reporters and corporations more or less feel like institutions. Reporters are more after story and corporations are more after killing the story. But the real human character in the movie is Jack Lemmon. The movie cleverly puts him in a position of uncertainty where in he can't totally blame the corporation for not performing regular tests that would cost millions but at the same time he is not 100% sure that his doubts are warranted. It is such an interesting position he is put in that it mirrors reality. The filmmakers does a great job of giving the film a journalist flavor to it. We are immersed in the world of journalism for good chunk of time. Even the energy plant feels like a character. Its feels like something that is huge and strong and secure until it isn't. But the main problem with the movie is two fold. The power of the corporations and the danger they cause to reporters and whistle-blowers is way too kinetic in its execution. The whistle blowing aspect of it all felt rushed. That's probably called a pacing issue. Even the dangerous consequences predicted by Jack Lemmon's characters happens way too fast. He predicts there is something wrong with the plant and the moment they turn the plant back on something does go wrong thus proving that he is right all along. In reality predictions and real events don't happen that fast apart from each other. If it were to happen then it wouldn't be called predictions. It almost takes away from the seriousness of the situation. If what he predicted happened so fast then others would be idiots to not have noticed that. It's like predicting a plane with most of its engines failed will crash. Of course it will crash.
The best thing going for this movie is the way it creates a nuanced situation with several shades of grey and complexity that no single person or party can be blamed for any of it. Even the corporation heads are doing what they feel is right to stay in business. There are no antagonists. Even though they kill a reporter its all in the name of self preservation. The ending is heartbreaking because of what happens to Jack Lemmon and also how that incident brings out the humanity in Jane Fonda's stoic reporter character and a colleague of Jack Lemmon who until that point was just another foot soldier for the corporation.