DUE TO AN ACT OF GOD (IM ZEICHEN DES KREUZES)

Germany, 1983, 100 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Rainer Boldt.

Due to an Act of God is a German telemovie with a message. The film presents a scenario of an accident with nuclear waste and its effect on a small German town. The authorities are silent about the issues. The people in panic. The film sets its scene quite well - wanting ordinary audiences to identify with it. The film takes a fairly strong anti-nuclear stand. Most of the anti-nuclear films have been made in the United States, with some in Britain. This is an unusual example of a European anti-nuclear film.

1. An entertaining telemovie? With message?

2. Designed for German audiences: situations, nuclear power stations, nuclear waste, the possibilities of accidents on the freeways; the NATO situation. United States bases, close to-the U.S.S.R. German audience reaction? European reaction? World-wide response? A credible and persuasive scenario?

3. The use of German locations: the roads, the countryside, small towns? The contrast with the world of technology, medicine, the police, army? Editing and pace for momentum? Atmospheric score?

4. The long opening with the trucks, the men and their chatter, their carelessness? An ordinary day? Speeding, rivalry, communications? The cars on the freeway? The doctor and his wife squabbling, Michael and his reactions? The potential for accidents? The assertion that the containers had been tested for accident-proof use? The dramatic expectations of a crash - but its happening off-screen, so to speak?

5. The sketch of the town, the shops, the people in the flower shop, a quiet day, bikes and cars, the families, visits? Ordinary human tensions, the boy not wanting to go with the family, the adults squabbling, friendliness, the young girl?

6. The crash in this context? The cloud of nuclear waste? The gradual effect, the permeating of the town and atmosphere, the doctor and the assistants going to the scene of the accident, the effect on the drivers? The town being cut off, having to cope, the authorities, people rebelling, food, contamination, the possibilities of food and drink, assembling in the church, the pastor and his help, the woman with the goat (later hanging herself)? The people trapped, wanting to break out, taking the cars, confronting the military on the roads? Panic and the effects of the contamination? The effects of not being told the truth?

7. The doctor and his wife, their work, attending the accident, the quarrel in their laboratories? Their suddenly being taken by the police? Brutal treatment, the tests? Their tricking their guards and escaping? Driving, looking for their son? Entering the town? Reconciliation? Death?

8. The role of the authorities? Contingency plans, sealing off the contaminated area, not giving information? Confusion? The police and their lies? The military confrontation on the bridge on the freeway? Shooting? Germans shooting each other?

9. The possibility of accidents with nuclear waste, the repercussions, innocent victims and their effect?

10. The credibility of the scenario as an anti-nuclear fable? Dramatic impact via the television screen?