Into Eternity details
| Format: | Ex DVD |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Timo Aikas, Carl Reinhold Brakenhjelm, Mikael Jensen, Berit Lundqvist |
| Director: | Michael Madsen |
| Genre: | Documentary - Biography |
| Studio: | LACE GROUP |
| Original title | Onkalo - säteilevä hauta |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
Into Eternity |
Ex Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 1 hour 15 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 17 Jan 2011 |
| Main languages: | English |
Write your own review
Most helpful review
A solemn and contemplative documentary that’s ultimately unrewarding
By Daniel Pollard from Manchester, England , 31 Jan 2011[Highly rated reviewer]
The story of an underground James Bond-villain-style facility in northern Finland designed to store spent nuclear waste for 100,000 years should be a great documentary. There are fascinating issues touched upon, such as what will people and the Earth be like in 1000 years, let alone 100,000 years, should markers be put down to alert people to the dangers below the earth or will they inspire people to believe there is some kind of treasure buried below. Will the whole facility be forgotten about in a few generations time? Remarkably, the filmmaker has managed to make this hugely interesting and relevant film a little tedious and dreary. His compulsion to put himself at the centre of the story ruins a great film, as well as the slow camera work and lack of hard facts. I would rather watch a non-cinematic documentary about this subject from the BBC or National Geographic and one that doesn’t feature a pompous, portentous and self-important filmmaker.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (11) Yes |
- No (1)
All reviews
(8)Well, it certainly felt like it...
By MinkyNinky (67 reviews) from Matlock, Derbyshire, UK , 11 Dec 2011Those wishing for a National Geographic type of whizz-bang 'how it was built/this huge undertaking/big machines!!' documentary will be disappointed. This is very much a philosophical treatment, considering - at very great length - Mankind's duty to do this, and fulfilment of that, and what future generations will make of it all. Cue sundry Scandinavian talking heads (OK, heads and shoulders), portentuously declaiming...very...slowly...and wearisome slo-mo sequences of lone construction personnel drilling holes in frigid isolation.
In its glacial way, however, the film did explore some interesting concepts - for example whether to put up warning markers for the benefit of future generations (and whether our language would even be understandable by then), or just to pretent it doesn't even exist to deter meddlers from the planet Zog in AD 102,011. And alarmingly, this massive underground store is just for Finland's nuclear cast-offs, never mind the rest of the world's.
But, holy fuel rods, it was hard going. I think if this film was buried, like nuclear waste, for 100,000 years it would still be running in its snail-like manner. Basically, it just went on and on, and after nearly two hours of contemplating frozen rocks, snow-dusted pine forests and soporific Finnish technocrats, I gave up before radioactive decay set in. God knows how long the closing credits would take.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (0)
A wasted opportunity
By Hellohulk (22 reviews) from Leicester , 11 Sep 2011This film raises some important issues, such as (i) keeping safely stored an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 tons of radioactive material deep underground for 100,000 years, (ii) the future possibility of human intrusion onto sealed-off storage sites leading to an escape of radioactive waste, and (iii) the difficult of communicating the dangers of such sites to future generations, given that language will inevitably change over the next several millenia.
However, that is all that is positive about the film.
The problem is that, after an interesting start, it becomes dull and repetitive. Towards the end, points are hammered home again and again. In fact, cutting the length of the film by half would have made more it effective.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (2) Yes |
- No (0)
Documentary as Art film?
By LeCritique (6 reviews) from London , 01 Jul 2011Documentaries featuring important global issues need to focus on specifics: the cause; the problem; the resolution. This film looks at the Finnish solution in the storage of nucler waste in man-made underground caves that will protect the Finnish population for some 100,000 years. Well, good for the Finns but the issue is global and so is the energy debate. Instead we get tedious and overdramatic sequences of tunnel building, creepy music and portentious voice overs and an overlong and ill thoughtout debate on how to keep the population in the future from Interfering with the buried waste. There is a place for art film - but this is not it.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (1) Yes |
- No (3)
utter gibberish
By jimnobot (11 reviews) from Hatfield , 25 Apr 2011watched it for about 15 mins and pretty much got the gist of it....nuclear waste, thousands of years yadayadayada.....wouldn't waste your time- Was this review helpful to you?
- (1) Yes |
- No (7)
Pretentious, repetitive, unrewarding and shallow
By DitchVictim (16 reviews) , 14 Apr 2011Covers an important and unusual subject, but made in such a pretentious way that it ends up confusing the issue. It largely repeats exactly the same point (“how do we bury nuclear waste and keep it untouched for 100,000 years?”) in a 15 minute loop, including baffling and irrelevant shots, and gives very little feel for the complexity of the issues nor any counter-arguments. Faintly amusing in its reinforcement of Finnish gloomy, over-analytical stereotypes, but it gets pretty tedious after 40 minutes, and short-changes the viewer, substituting arty shots and minimalism (e.g. suggesting an entire 5km tunnel is being built by three blokes with a few sticks of dynamite) for anything intellectually chewy. And yet, I quite liked the fact that it has a strong, authorial voice – even if it is up-itself to a huge degree. Could be so much better.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (1) Yes |
- No (3)
