# China Syndrome, The (1979)

### reviewed by
Walter Frith

    'The China Syndrome' (1979)

A retrospective movie review by Walter Frith

Member of the 'Internet Movie Critics Association' http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/5713/index.html

Propelled with no music score, the heart pounding drama of 'The China Syndrome' carries the entire film. For younger readers, in the spring of 1979, on March 28 to be exact, at 4 a.m., a serious accident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania, outside of Harrisburg. In today's day and age of electronic media where breaking news is almost instant after a major event happens, the fury over this fiasco would have been ferocious. The public didn't need the electronic media in 1979 in the well known forms of the Internet, modems, cell phones or faxes because there was something else interesting to talk about. 'The China Syndrome', starring Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda and a very fresh Michael Douglas, was released on March 16, just twelve days before the actual nightmare in Pennsylvania. Experts scoffed, critics charged that the film was an unrealistic portrayal of a potentially serious matter, comparing it to what they thought was the impossible scenario painted in 'Dr Strangelove' where a U.S. general goes insane, and on his own, launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union using an alternative war plan. It was, perhaps, one of the most under rated controversies of all time in terms of timing a motion picture with an actual occurrence.

I saw the film on my own and again one week later with relatives and ended up seeing it a total of four times in the theatre and I own a videotape of it which is well worn. It's plot would make a great episode of television's 'The X-Files' by working in some paranormal phenomenon to subdue fans of the show, such as myself. 'The X-Files' did a two-part episode in Season 4 based on the TWA Flight 800 tragedy which took place in the summer of 1996. I think the Three Mile Island story was over shadowed somewhat by Russia's Chernobyl disaster in 1986 where a nuclear facility actually exploded and that incident was far worse and had far reaching consequences for parts of the entire planet. One of the reasons I'm writing this review is so that the memory of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl will be activated in the minds of people everywhere from time to time, whenever they log on to this review no matter where they live in the world.

A veteran of two Academy awards and multiple nominations, Jack Lemmon starred as a conscience stricken nuclear plant worker who, along with others by his side, discovers that a serious accident may trigger an even worse one later on. When Lemmon is on the screen you don't care about anything else that's happening, he's that good and he's the best one in the film.

The setting is Southern California, in the Los Angeles area, where a television news reporter (Jane Fonda) and a camera man (Michael Douglas) are filming a documentary on the day to day activities of a nuclear facility. They are escorted by a public relations man who keeps them informed and watches their every move, every step of the way. The television crew arrives at the room where Lemmon and his co-workers are employed. The t.v. people are on the above floor and witness the accident mentioned in the above paragraph while looking through a glass window, commonly found in factories, separating the clerical offices from the other work stations. Douglas secretly films the entire accident through the glass and as he and Fonda arrive back at the station, the unauthorized photography is a matter for serious debate with their employer. Douglas is furious that the station won't air the footage, alleging a cover-up between the station and the executives at the nuclear plant.

The investigation into the disaster is swift, relatively thorough but misses something. This troubles Lemmon, as he cannot accept the plant being back in operation so soon. At a loss of $500,000 a day to the company that operates the facility, money seems to have a language all its own. That's not news. What is fascinating about 'The China Syndrome' is that it moves not only as a stirring drama, but as a well placed thriller that is thought provoking and is undeniably entertaining. It looks so realistic as it moves from scene to scene and its harrowing climax involving Lemmon's suspicions of danger actually happening is comparable in feeling to the atmosphere experienced by a multiple alarm fire or a military ambush.

The lacerating tragedy of the film is developed well from the start by director James Bridges and by the script written by him and two others, T.S. Cook and Mike Gray. They all received an Oscar nomination for their screenplay. Lemmon and Fonda were nominated for Best Actor and Actress, respectively, and I still say that Lemmon gave the best performance of the five but lost to a deserving Dustin Hoffman in 'Kramer vs. Kramer'. Lemmon was still more deserving. If he had more screen time in the film then I believe he would have won. Compounded with the fact that Lemmon had won before for Best Supporting Actor in 1955 for 'Mister Roberts' and in 1973 as Best Actor in 'Save the Tiger', his defeat was more understandable but not necessarily excusable. Lemmon's penchant for playing good guys made his portrayal of a decent man getting stiffed all the more powerful. Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas shine strongly in their roles and if Michael Douglas were more well known to movie audiences in 1979, he might have received a Best Supporting Actor nomination but Douglas did win in 1987 as Best ACTOR in 'Wall Street'. Jane Fonda had also won twice before being nominated in this film. She won in 1971 for 'Klute' as Best Actress and in 1978 in the same category for 'Coming Home'. In my opinion, 'The China Syndrome' should have received a whole fistful of Oscar nominations in such categories as Best Picture, Director for James Bridges and several technical categories but it never happened. I suppose the film will have to live on without peer recognition but audience recognition can be just as significant.

Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP by Walter Frith http://home.netinc.ca/~wfrith/movies.htm

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