Crossroads. 1976. By Bruce Conner.

(1/30/01)

Crossroads is comprised of footage of the first underwater atomic bomb test. The explosion is shown sequentially from different viewpoints. Evidently we are left with a shot in which the cloud disperses to the end that there is only a haze and in the foreground there is a silhouette of a ship at the left of the frame.

It is interesting how the mood of this film changes. It is quite startling to see the explosion coming up out of the water for the first time. As time goes on I became more aware of the beauty--yes, the beauty!--of the atomic cloud as it majestically disperses, as it rolls out over the area. The cloud looks like a strange exotic plant--or tree.

I wonder about all of those ships in the area. Were they safe during the test? I suppose they were there deliberately. In one shot we see an airplane flying into the cloud. I wonder what the consequences were. Did the pilot feel effects years later?

The soundtrack changes duringthe film. During the first part we hear a roar which seems to have something to do with the explosion. It reinforces the sense of the explosion. But then the soundtrack changes and we hear this bland, innocuous music. Why? What is the point? Is the film pointing up how we have come to accept the horror of the presence of the atomic bomb in our lives?

I think that the atomic bomb was something which changed human history. It was like a milestone and that is the event that this film is about. But as I write this I wonder if that "it was a milestone" interpretation of the bomb might be an oversimplification. Perhaps man's ability to destroy was something that grew by degrees and the atom bomb was more of an emblem than a genuine milestone.