Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb (2006)

While scientists race to produce a bomb capable of incinerating an entire city, Dr. Teller has a bigger idea.

Featuring Richard Rhodes, Freeman Dyson and the final interviews with Edward Teller ("Father of the Hydrogen Bomb") and Hans Bethe (Manhattan Project Head of Theoretical Physics), this PBS special recreates the Cold War invention of the Hydrogen Bomb in both America and the Soviet Union, and the nuclear free-for-all that followed.

Reviews for Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb:

Television: DOCS & TALK

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand this story of the hydrogen bomb and Edward Teller, the American physicist who created it. Canadian Michael Lennick, who wrote and directed this documentary, does all the heavy lifting. There are even pretty animated graphic sequences to show just how all that complicated fusion/fission stuff works. But that's not really what this film is about. It's about the inherent irony of weapons too terrifying to use. And the strange dichotomy embodied by the brilliant minds that set the world's scariest contest of macho posturing in motion. As British physicist Freeman Dyson points out: "If you look at the internal design of a bomb, it's just so damn clever and neat. And to think with that, you can lift a million tons of rock into the sky. It gives you a feeling of omnipotence which is very seductive." For Lennick, the film was a labor of love, "or as much love as one can generate for a tale about a group of wise and kindly family men who dedicated their lives to the creation of some of the most insidious and horrifying devices the world has ever seen." Featuring a hard-won final interview with Teller -- Lennick had to audition for six months to earn the right -- and footage of beautifully deadly bomb tests, the documentary sets off its own series of chain reactions."

Henrietta Walmark
The Globe and Mail
January 12th, 2007
(In advance of a PBS airing)

"...excellent doc recreates the Cold War invention of this horrendous weapon and tells the story of the mass hysteria that took place between the U.S. and Russia with great film footage, animations, stills and wonderful editing. There are interviews with Teller and other big players, including Hans Bethe, Freeman Dyson and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes. The story has an almost black comedy feel except that there is nothing funny about it. Terrific film for history buffs or anyone who wants to find out how the arms race escalated into high gear. If you think we live in scary times now..."

Donnie and Jeannie Hill
2006 Santa Fe Film Festival