Into Eternity

How do you create a structure which must endure almost ten times longer than all of human civilisation? That’s the dilemma facing the nuclear physicists and politicians who make up the cast of this intriguing, gorgeously photographed but wildly pretentious documentary which explores the construction of the Onkalo nuclear waste storage facility in Finland. Largely comprising of talking heads interspersed with artful footage of the underground facility being built, the film is both informative and lovely to look at. The moral and scientific implications of the project are deftly sketched and engaging. Will future generations understand our most dire warnings? Can anything really last 100,000 years? The drawback is that director Michael Madsen (not the Reservoir Dog) insists on popping up to regale us with his pompous musings on man’s hubris, a distracting, indulgent and eventually laughable intrusion.