Dark Circle

Dark Circle is essentially an anti-plutonium documentary made in 1979 and released in 1980. The film is about people in the United States whose lives are influenced by plutonium as well as a several Japanese atomic bomb survivors. The people interviewed in the film are: those involved in building nuclear weapons, their family members, people living near nuclear weapons factories, anti-nuclear protesters, military personnel who were involved in nuclear tests and of course the Japanese atomic bomb survivors. There are also rare scenes of work being done inside nuclear weapons factories (mostly Rocky Flats), construction being done on nuclear power plants, anti-nuclear protests, a few scenes of gruesome experiments done on animals, discussion of birth defects and scenes of people who have injuries or diseases from radiation. Many of the people interviewed have since died and the most facilities have been torn down and entombed deep underground in nuclear waste sites. This makes much of Dark Circle a rare and unique glimpse at people and places that have been lost forever.

The facts in the film range from accurate, to exaggerated (sometimes wildly), to rumors or urban legends and a few that, as far as anyone can tell, are just made up. As the narrator herself states, few of the people in the film are qualified experts.