A personal documentary that tracks the construction of America's collective…
Snake Dance
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
The knowledge needed to build the atomic bomb was not given to us, it was consciously pursued. And the world has been living with the consequences ever since. SNAKE DANCE is a personal reading of humankind's catastrophic decision to play God.
From New Mexico to Congo and Japan, this film explores the atomic legacy and the indelible stamp it has left on the world by following the tracks of two characters who forged this story: German-born Aby Warburg who studied the Pueblo Indians of Los Alamos, and Robert Oppenheimer who will always be known as the inventor of the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
Citation
Main credits
Riche, Manu (film director)
Riche, Manu (screenwriter)
Riche, Manu (film producer)
Marnham, Patrick (film director)
Marnham, Patrick (screenwriter)
Marnham, Patrick (narrator)
Bauw, Geneviève de (film producer)
Other credits
Camera, Renaat Lambeets, Ross McDonnell; editing, Michèle Hubinon; music performance, Jun Kanno.
Distributor subjects
History (World); Politics; Science; Science and Technology; World War IIKeywords
WEBVTT
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[sil.]
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[sil.]
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[music]
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[sil.]
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
For over 1,000 years, Indians
lived in San Ildefonso.
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In 1895,
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a German art historian
traveled to New Mexico,
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seeking to understand how these people
survived in a land without water.
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Aby Warburg discovered
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that the Pueblo Indians had developed a
complex relationship with their environment.
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They express through their secret rituals
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and psychic life.
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It was a land where men
danced with rattlesnakes
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to master the power of lightning.
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Warburg concluded
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the what we call superstition,
was the lost form of knowledge.
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
[sil.]
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He became convinced that the
culture of the machine age
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was threatening to destroy this knowledge.
And plunge the planet back into chaos.
00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:28.000
[sil.]
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
In 1918, after four years
industrialized warfare,
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Germany was defeated.
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
The conflict destroyed Aby
Warburg\'s life as a scholar,
00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
as well as his sanity.
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
He was confined to a psychiatric hospital at
(inaudible) on the shores of Lake Constance,
00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
and treated it as an
incurable schizophrenic.
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
He was expected to spend
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
the rest of his life in the asylum.
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
[sil.]
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
Fifty years after Warburg
visit to San Ildefonso,
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Indian men and women from the Pueblo
were hired by the United States Army
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to construct a secret facility
over inland(ph), at Los Alamos.
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[sil.]
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The goal was to design the first
weapon of mass destruction.
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It was called
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the Manhattan Project.
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The scientists who gave us the atomic bomb
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were brilliant, uncultivated men,
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most came from Europe.
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They were directed by an
American, Robert Oppenheimer.
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[sil.]
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The first atomic bomb test
was carried out here.
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Oppenheimer called his test
Trinity, the name of God.
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[sil.]
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In August, 1945,
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the Manhattan Project was completed.
00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
When the bomb tested in New
Mexico was dropped on Nagasaki.
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[sil.]
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Well, yes, there was one thing I wanted
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to ask you about was the term, this
film is about a man called Aby Warburg,
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who was not (inaudible). And (inaudible),
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he was a German art
historians and ethnologist.
00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
And he came here to New Mexico
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because he was studying…
studying Indian culture.
00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
And well, I\'m just hoping find some
connection possibility between him
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and Robert Oppenheimer
(inaudible) father\'s interest
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in why cultural interest…
interested in New Mexico.
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Umm… I really…
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We\'re on the road…
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we\'re on the road at the moment.
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Yeah, but could I call you
when I\'m on a land line?
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
[sil.]
00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
In the 1930s, Robert Oppenheimer,
a successful young scientist,
00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
discovers a log cabin 9,000 feet up
in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
[sil.]
00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
He calls it Perro Caliente, hotdog
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and raises his children there.
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
[sil.]
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The solitude is good for his spirit.
00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
[sil.]
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Then Acadia, the empty land
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is put to use.
00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:08.000
[music]
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Oppenheimer identifies the
mountains above San Ildefonso,
00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
as the ideal place to conceal
the construction of hell.
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
[sil.]
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Washington decided
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
to develop a weapon that
could destroy civilization.
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
This decision was made before
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, when the
United States was still a neutral country.
00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
[sil.]
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
The men in charge were
general Leslie Groves
00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
and Robert Oppenheimer.
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
They embarked on their
mission with high purpose,
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
maintained(ph) unlimited budget.
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
[sil.] General Groves acquired
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
all the uranium produced in Africa.
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
He decided to buy up all
the uranium in the world.
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
[sil.]
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
We were not given the knowledge
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
to make this weapon, we chose to pursue it,
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
and ever since the destruction of Hiroshima
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
and Nagasaki, the world\'s lived with
the consequences of that choice.
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
[sil.]
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
Mass destruction,
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
the Cold War,
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
war against terror, war without end.
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:18.000
[sil.]
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Possession of the atomic bomb
transformed the United States
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
into a world power,
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
the uranium needed for the bomb
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
came from the Belgian Congo, (inaudible),
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the cradle of American Empire.
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:53.000
[sil.]
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
An empire needs resources,
which has to be defended,
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
it has enemies.
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
An empire needs purpose, a mission.
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:23.000
[sil.]
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
An empire needs a hinterland.
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:38.000
[sil.]
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
The Belgians abandoned their
colonial empire in 1960,
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
and America took over.
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:18.000
[sil.]
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
Washington was fighting the Cold War
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
in building an arsenal of
45,000 nuclear warheads.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
[sil.]
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
Cobalt is stable with
extremes of heat and cold
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
and is required for missiles.
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:53.000
[sil.]
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
A reliable man was needed to run the Congo.
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
[sil.]
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
He was called Joseph-Desiré Mobutu.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:18.000
[sil.]
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
When the Cold War ended
in American victory,
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
President Mobutu was
abandoned by Washington
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
and civil war broke out in the Congo.
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:48.000
[sil.]
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
Four or five armies are still fighting.
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
The arm bands used child soldiers.
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
They raped and killed casually
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
and employed slaves in the diamond and
(inaudible) minds that they control.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.000
[sil.]
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
At Kisangani station, the trains
arrive carrying the bodies
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
of those passengers who
had been beaten to death.
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
[sil.]
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
Even today the road for the forest
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
is too dangerous to travel at night.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:58.000
[sil.]
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
[non-English narration]
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
Leopold II, king of the Belgium\'s
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
embarks on great adventure.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
He acquires one million square miles of
Africa, and 10 million new subjects.
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
He decides to build a new civilization.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
[sil.]
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
When the rubber dries up,
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
the Belgium rulers of the Congo
former company called (inaudible),
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
and start to dig up the
ground searching for copper,
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
cobalt, cadmium, tin, gold,
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
silver, diamonds, zinc.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:23.000
[sil.]
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
This country was the home of plenty.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:48.000
[sil.]
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
Aby Warburg believe that
mythical and symbolic thinking
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
that forms spiritual bonds between
humanity and the world around us,
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
[sil.]
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
And that if these bonds were broken,
the planets will be overwhelmed
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
by its original state, primal fear.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
[sil.]
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
Just before Warburg\'s
journey, he discovered
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
a collection of Renaissance
drawings that featured the serpent,
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
symbol of evil and cunning.
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
The serpents spreads fear.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
It springs out from its hiding place
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:58.000
and it\'s powerful enough
to kill with one bite.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
[sil.]
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:13.000
[non-English narration]
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:28.000
[sil.]
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
The convent school was founded
by a director (inaudible),
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
a rich seam of copper and
cobalt has been discovered
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
by blasting under the convent buildings.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
Lessons continue
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
with textbooks dating from 1957.
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:33.000
[sil.]
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
The men who cannot find work
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
for the big mining companies,
try their luck at (inaudible),
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
unlicensed miners.
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
They gather in (inaudible), the big minings and look for
minerals in slag heaps, more by tunneling underground.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:18.000
[sil.]
00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:00.000
[non-English narration]
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:13.000
[sil.]
00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:03.000
[sil.]
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:23.000
[sil.]
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
There were thought to be over 20,000 (inaudible)
and the southern province of Contango.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
[sil.]
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
During confrontations with the police
and legal minors are frequently killed.
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:53.000
[sil.]
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:13.000
[non-English narration]
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Worldwide, the demand for
cobalt continues to grow.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
It is now so valuable
and even minute traces
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000
leached out of soil tips can
be sold to the arms trade.
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:23.000
[non-English narration]
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:38.000
[sil.]
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:33.000
[sil.]
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
Four million died in the Civil War,
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
and it\'s business as usual.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
And then they have been
developing the Congo.
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
For over a century continued
to supply the world.
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:43.000
[sil.]
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.000
[sil.]
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:08.000
[sil.]
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:33.000
[sil.]
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
[music]
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
In 1939,
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
German scientists announced the
discovery of nuclear fission
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
and the management of (inaudible)
realized that uranium
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
has suddenly become a
precious wartime commodity.
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
One hundred tones of all was
secretly shipped from Belgium
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
to a warehouse outside New York City.
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
This action was taken several months
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
before the outbreak of
the Second World War.
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:33.000
[sil.]
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
The Uranium mine was sealed
by the Belgians in 1960,
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
just before Congolese Independence.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:53.000
[sil.]
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
For Warburg primitive man lived
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
like a child in the dark,
surrounded by menacing Chaos.
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
Man who live with daily fear,
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
developed phobic reflexes,
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
these enabled him to respond
to real or imagined dangerous.
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Warburg considered that
humanity is continuing tragedy
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
lay in its inability to
overcome the phobic reflex.
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
Men still live with fear
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
and still tried to name its cause.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
During his period
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
of confinement of (inaudible)
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
Warburg became convinced that the
ability to reason and delivered mankind
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
from primitive psychological
impulses of frenzy and fear.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
[sil.]
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
Warburg identified a Zen of
reasoning and reflection,
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
a space that was protected
by distance and detachment.
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
And he thought
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
that a culture of technology threatened
to destroy the intellectual detachment
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
that guarded the Zen of reason.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
[sil.]
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Without rain in the desert,
the Indians would die.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
To secure rain, they set
out to dominate the snake,
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
the symbol of water and of life.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
In the absence of scientific information,
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
the Indian snake dance
was an essential step
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
on the path to mastering the
universal terror of existence.
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
The Indians use
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
of myth and symbolism (inaudible)
to their surroundings
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
and enabled them to survive
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
and to overcome the impulse to fear.
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:33.000
[sil.]
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
There are several ways dealing with fear.
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
President Eisenhower spent his term
of office fighting the Cold War,
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
\"Let me point out,\" he
said, \"to this country,
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
never had any of this
hysterical fear of any nation
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
until atomic weapons
appeared on the scene.\"
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:08.000
[sil.]
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
To counter the threat
of a Nazi atomic bomb,
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
seventeen Nobel Prize winners agreed to
devise a weapon of mass destruction.
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
For two years,
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
they lived in isolation, they\'re
locked up under military guard,
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
inside the security fence
over secret establishment
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
in the high desert of New Mexico.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
And most (inaudible) scientists include
Teller, Fermi, Ulam, Niels Bohr,
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
Chadwick and Hans Bethe.
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:58.000
Afterwards, they said,
the building the bomb
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
had been the time of their lives.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
(inaudible) arrives
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
with the British contingent,
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
his experiment to say dangerous. They have
to be conducted in a distant (inaudible).
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
[music]
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
(inaudible) an accomplished
concert pianist.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
In months and weeks leading up to the
construction of the death machine,
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
(inaudible) delights his colleagues with
recitals of Beethoven, Bach and Chopin.
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:48.000
[music]
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
Each of these turquoise represents
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
five years of service to… on my badge
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
and I\'m to get my next one next year,
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
20 years
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
as a volunteer.
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
[sil.]
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
Am I still looking at the lines(ph).
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:48.000
[sil.]
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
There is a main location,
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
it\'s called TA3, Technical Area-3,
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
where the administration building,
the library, the cafeteria is,
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
but there are remote sites
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
where they do various types of experience,
experiments including conventional explosives.
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:53.000
[sil.]
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
When the circle moves,
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
it assumes the shape of lightning,
the force that brings fire and rain.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
By mastering snake,
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
the Indians combustor rainfall.
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:28.000
[sil.]
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
In matter of fact, the Pueblo (inaudible)
is probably the second largest employer
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
within the Northern New Mexico region,
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
with less almost National Laboratories
being the number one which is
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
just 20 miles to the west of
us from here, matter of fact,
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
you can see it from here. (inaudible)
is kind of in a centralized location
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
and being that we are in a centralized location,
we\'re able to use the revenues former,
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
casinos and resorts to help build some of
the businesses for the entire community
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
and for the entire northern Mexico area.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
So this is our valley.
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
Come on Jake, come on Jake, come on Jake.
I would like to say one more thing is
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
that the Pueblo (inaudible) and
its people are very proud people.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
I\'m proud of where I come from in order to have
the opportunity to lead the people I serve.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
It\'s just great to… to have the feeling
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
I have now looking out in the valley and…
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
and know that I\'m a part of it and that I
can serve my people in the capacity I do.
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
I really love, genuinely love our…
our land and I love our people.
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
It\'s just a great beautiful place.
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
The Indian share these mountains and
forests with the Spanish for 300 years,
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
then the Anglos
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
arrived from the East and
they want an empty land.
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
The methods used annexation
and ethnic cleansing.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
General Sherman says that
he favors extermination.
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
And the buffalo herds are wiped out.
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:33.000
[music]
00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:03.000
[sil.]
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
The price of liberty
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
is eternal vigilance, famous words
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
spoken by the man, who invented
the concentration camp in 1832
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
for the Cherokee Indians,
President Andrew Jackson.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Twenty five million acres
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
are thereby made available
for Anglo settlement.
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
That\'s the only thing
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
we have connected to the outside world.
Yes, all of us. All of us.
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
That\'s the good news. All of us off the grid.
We don\'t… we\'re not connected, no city water,
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
no community… no community sewer. As I said
I have a documentary called off the grid
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
and about everybody that builds out here.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:15.000
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we don\'t… we don\'t…
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:25.000
You know, taxes are really low. We don\'t
hardly pay taxes. five bucks or quarter.
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
Five dollars a year… The
taxes five dollars a year.
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
That\'s what… that\'s what we get for
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:46.960
(inaudible) off the grid. It\'s unimproved land. It was formerly zoned open range. There
were no fences that… when I moved here, there was no fence… There are still no fences…
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
These been fenced on both sides.
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
A rattlesnake is seized
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
and its head is placed inside the
mouth of one of the dancers.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
The ceremony continues for half an hour while
the dancer moves to the rhythm of rattles
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
made from shelves and bones.
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
When you see ceremonies at Hopi,
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
I\'m always struck by the… by the feet…
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
by the continues feet and
how they meet the earth.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
There\'s a meeting that\'s a recognition
from the earth itself and from the feet
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
and I find that very, very moving. And
I don\'t think that we think that way,
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
I know that we don\'t think that way and they
see nature in very different terms than that.
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
We see it as resource.
Basically as resource,
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
and the Southwest if you\'ve lived
here for thousands of years,
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
yes, there are resources that you
have to work very hard to get them.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Very, very hard, it\'s about survival and…
and finding a kind of meeting this land,
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
rather than a domination of…
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:18.000
[sil.]
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
So there you have what I would consider
one of the most spiritual places
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
in our country and there… there are many.
But that is…
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
it is so obvious if you\'re there and
we exploded the first atomic bomb,
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
and we still haven\'t dealt
with that great conflict
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
and discrepancy and that\'s when… I\'m working
on this. That\'s what I keep yearning for
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
is somehow to be able to deal with not
giving reasons why we did something,
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
but almost that unconscious
material of what this land is.
00:46:55.000 --> 00:47:03.000
[sil.]
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
After years of confinement,
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
Warburg decided to confront his fears and
find a way out of the labyrinth and insanity.
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
He recalled the Indian snake
dance as a means of overcoming
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
his terror of existence.
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
Oh hi, Sir,
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
Patrick Marnham calling about
Hopi state for Peter Oppenheimer.
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
I think I\'m probably calling a bit too early.
Umm… I\'ll try again later this evening.
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
And… Hello…
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
Hello Oh, hi, it\'s Patrick Marnham.
Is this a good moment to call you?
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
Oh good. Umm…
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
It\'s pretty easy for me now because
I\'m not standing at a crossroads,
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
umm… (inaudible), I\'m in a hotel room.
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
Umm… Well, I was just…
I had been to contact
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
you was like explained about our film. Umm…
I said, I was just happy to contact you
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
about our film.
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
Our film is Snake Dance.
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
But we would… we would,
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
if possible like to (inaudible) if were possible, just a (inaudible)
half or so. And totally and formally and off the record,
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
just to give us some kind of close…
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
closer impression of the Robert Oppenheimer, side of the
story. And that… that period when you grew up in Los Alamos
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
and that sort of thing. But umm…
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:08.000
[sil.]
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
Mm-hmm. All right.
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
Okay. Umm… Fine. Well, I\'m sorry, if we
can persuade you to a brief meeting.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
[sil.]
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
Yes, pretty much that… Yeah. Okay. Well,
thank you very much indeed Mr. Oppenheimer.
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
Thank you. Goodbye.
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:43.000
[sil.]
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
I was a critical mass physicist,
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
processing plutonium as we did.
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
Uranium at first, but then plutonium. Uh…
You know, there\'s chemical processes,
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
metallurgical processes, all kinds
of processes, and… and you have
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
thousands of people working there,
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
but for each one doing
their own little thing,
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
not knowing what the rest are doing. My job
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
to write criticality manuals for the processing, you
couldn\'t move something from here to here without
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
written… written rules that
had been followed rigidly
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
because if there\'s an accident there\'s no
warning. You\'re dead, you\'re instantly dead.
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
You don\'t have a nuclear
explosion like a bomb.
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
But you have instantaneous
radiation like 10 to the 17th,
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
10 to the 20th visions occurred just
instantly in a fraction of a second
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
and 2.5 times the number
of neutrons given off,
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
an equal number of gamma rays given
of, so… so you\'re just dead.
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:13.000
[sil.]
00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
You know, I\'m a Christian and
so, you know, you have mixed…
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
mixed emotions but I think… I think….
(inaudible) God gave us the technology
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
and an opportunity
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
to really save millions of lives.
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
I mean it was tragic that… that
little less than 300,000 died
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
from the two bombs but it
would cost millions of lives,
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
Japanese and American and ally
if would have invade Japan.
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
So in the long run, it saved a lot of lives
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
and I think that\'s the only thing…
that\'s why we won the Cold War,
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
and the only thing Russia was
afraid of was our nuclear power.
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
So the Cold War I think paid off.
00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:18.000
[sil.]
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
What I was hoping to do was
get below the political.
00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
I have a lot of feelings about why the
bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
and it wasn\'t just to save US troops.
You know, the Russians needed
00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
to be stopped, umm… the
bomb had its own momentum,
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
some of the scientists stopped and Robert
Oppenheimer\'s brother Frank, who was a remarkable man
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
also said that it had its
own momentum at that point.
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
It needed to be done, it
needed to be tested on people.
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
And Oppenheimer, this supreme intellectual,
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
who chooses this place that was good
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
for his heart and his spirit, and in
that place then creates the weapon
00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
of mass destruction, the first major weapon
00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
of mass destruction.
00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
Washington endowed the Manhattan
Project was an unlimited budget
00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
in time of peace because he was attracted
by the new weapons defensive capacity.
00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
And after spending $2 billion,
00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
the project to carnitine momentum
and had to be tested on people.
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
The atomic bombing
00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
of to Japanese cities to living
targets was carried out when Japan
00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
was already beaten, and four months
00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
after the Japanese leadership had started
to ask Washington, in terms of surrender.
00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
were not destroyed to end the war.
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
They were destroyed as an
essential part of an experiment,
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
the development process of
two different atomic weapons
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
required to separate living targets.
00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
The experiment had to provide exact
information about the relative efficiency
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
of these devices. Exact
information was required
00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
about thermal radiation,
00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
fireballs gamma rays,
fall out, strontium-90,
00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
blast injuries, flash burns,
00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
whole body radiation doses,
ovarian and testicular damage,
00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
and induced mutations.
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
[sil.]
00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
There was a wealth of
knowledge to be gained.
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:18.000
[sil.]
00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:28.000
[music]
00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:08.000
[sil.]
00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
Nagasaki bomb is released through
a hole in the clouds at 11:01,
00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
an explosive 1,650 feet 40 seconds later.
00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:33.000
[sil.]
00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
Among the 30,000 people, who are
closest to the (inaudible) center,
00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
and they died within three
seconds, 1,310 teachers
00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
and children in Shiroyama Primary School,
00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
1,300 at Yamazato Primary School
00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
and 592 pupils and staff
and other nearby schools.
00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
[sil.]
00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:13.000
[music]
00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
A dead, total 70,000 by
the end of the year,
00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
3% are military personnel,
00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
13% worked in war industries,
and 84% are civilians,
00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
mostly elderly people,
students or children.
00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:53.000
[sil.]
01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:18.000
[music]
01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:58.000
[sil.]
01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
The psychiatrist Dr. (inaudible)
missed the last train to Hiroshima.
01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
His wife survived the destruction of Tokyo,
01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:45.000
their son became a concert pianist.
01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:55.000
[sil.]
01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
Like Plane, nothing.
01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:58.000
[sil.]
01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:13.000
[sil.]
01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:55.000
[sil.]
01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:15.000
[sil.]
01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:25.000
[non-English narration]
01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
[sil.]
01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
were destroyed in fractions of a second.
01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
Since then nuclear weapons
have been greatly improved.
01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
[sil.]
01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
As the tensions of the Cold War grew,
fear and power spiraled upwards
01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
hand-in-hand, promising wider
01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
and wider zones of destruction.
01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
[sil.]
01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
The mission of the empire that had been founded
on weapon, became the creation and destruction
01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
of his enemies. Its economy became a system
01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
dedicated to warfare threats
and the invention of weapons.
01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:53.000
[sil.]
01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
The empire came on machine
for the creation of fear.
01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:28.000
[sil.]
01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:34.999
Once in a thousand years.
01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:40.000
[sil.]
01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:13.000
[sil.]
01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.999
Where these cars come a long way or they were
here? I think so, I think so. I think so.
01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:25.000
[sil.]
01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:48.000
[sil.]
01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:54.999
You can\'t use this land again?
01:09:55.000 --> 01:10:03.000
[sil.]
01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:15.000
Is this rice field?
01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:28.000
[sil.]
01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:45.000
[sil.]
01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:58.000
[sil.]
01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:29.999
Radiation from the Fukushima
Nuclear Power Station,
01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
that was damaged by the tsunami has contaminated
the (inaudible) 10 times the size of Manhattan.
01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
[sil.]
01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
This includes some of the most
productive farmland in Japan.
01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:53.000
[sil.]
01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
Well, the ground is contaminated
by plutonium, it will be unusable
01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
for approximately 170,000 years.
01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:18.000
[sil.]
01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:54.999
Aby Warburg eventually found his way
out of the labyrinth of terror.
01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:59.999
[sil.]
01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:04.999
His recovery began at (inaudible) in 1923,
01:13:05.000 --> 01:13:09.999
when he was able to show Dr. Ludwig
Binswanger that he was capable of giving
01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
a successful academic
lecture, lasting two hours
01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
before an invited audience.
01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
He chose to lecture on the psychic
(inaudible) with the Pueblo Indians,
01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
in evoking the Zen of
reasoning and detachment.
01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
He recreated it.
01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:39.999
[sil.]
01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
Warburg confronted his fears
and most of them as the Hopi
01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
most of their dread and the snake dance.
01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:58.000
[sil.]
01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
Managed for six years
01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
by frenzy and chaos, Aby Warburg
asserted the returning strength
01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
of his own reason by imagining
the ancient pagan mechanism
01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
for overcoming the universal
terror of existence.
01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:28.000
[sil.]
01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
He died suddenly alone in
his library in Hamburg,
01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
five years after regaining his sanity.
01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
[sil.]
01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
Five years after his death, Adolf Hitler,
01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
the elected chancellor of a
democratic Germany began
01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
to expel Jewish scientists
from German universities.
01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:08.000
[sil.]
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 75 minutes
Date: 2012
Genre: Expository
Language: English / English subtitles
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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