Wonders Are Many.

"Jon Else's Wonders Are Many closes in on the Trinity atomic test of July 1945, twinning it with the production of an opera based on those events called Doctor Atomic and offering the creative dilemma faced by both operations as common ground," writes Michelle Orange in the Voice. "The historical narrative easily outpaces that of the opera, and at times, the difference between crying 'bomb' in a crowded theater and the New Mexico desert takes this otherwise engrossing film one juxtaposition too far."

There is a "third strand," notes Stephen Holden in the New York Times, "a history of atomic weaponry and the nuclear arms race between the United States and Germany and, later, the Soviet Union, related in a booming narrative voice-over. Devastating vintage film of German and Japanese cities going up in flames reminds you that even before the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, millions of civilians died in saturation firebombing. The numbers of casualties cited are staggering. The three strands mesh into a profound and sorrowful meditation on warfare, the possibility of nuclear annihilation and how developing a doomsday weapon affected the lives of the scientists building it."

In the previous paragraph, Holden writes, "It is fascinating to observe [Peter] Sellars demonstrating to cast members the exact phrasing and emotional shading for conveying [John] Adams's austere but passionate score, and to watch the final touches being added to a facsimile of the original test weapon."

Earlier: Brian Darr spoke with Else in December.

Posted by dwhudson at May 30, 2008 7:12 AM