The China Syndrome: A Review

THE CHINA SYNDROME

The United States has foregone nuclear energy. How much of that is the result of The China Syndrome is up for debate. Released almost two weeks before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, The China Syndrome lucked onto a bit of bad news. Well-acted, well-crafted and with a healthy helping of 1970s paranoia, The China Syndrome works all around.

KXLA reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) is usually given puff pieces to cover. Her most recent one on the new phenomenon of singing telegrams is well-received. Wells is now off to cover a more substantial but still small piece. It is a tour of the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant as part of the station's ongoing energy series. Wells, along with freelance cameraman Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) and his soundman Hector Salazar (Daniel Valdez), are enjoying the tour. It isn't until they get to the control room that they see something going wildly and dangerously wrong. 

The reactor faces a major crisis with its coolant system. There is a mild earthquake at the plant as a result. There is panic on the floor, with supervisor Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon) desperate to contain the crisis. Wells, Adams, Salazar and plant executive/tour guide Bill Gibson (James Hampton) can only watch as Goddell and his team do all they can from having a literal meltdown. Goddell and his team do eventually manage to contain the crisis. Despite assurances, however, Adams has secretly recorded the entire crisis.

KXLA executives first will, then won't, broadcast the footage. Adams is furious but Wells wants to find some compromise. No dice, as Adams has literally stolen the footage and is holding it hostage. What Adams captured on film was what Godell would realize is "the China Syndrome" (where theoretically the nuclear meltdown would reach China). Wells searches for Adams and the footage, eventually going to a nuclear power protest and public hearing.

Jack Godell believes in nuclear power. He also believes in efficiency, even if it costs more. The company is not of that mindset. They want a new nuclear power plant built at Port Concepcion and won't allow the recent "Code 6" at Ventana to get in the way. Godell discovers that the Ventana building inspections were haphazard and inefficient. In short, the plant construction is shoddy. Godell makes the mistake of confronting the inspector at the Port Concepcion site. He threatens to go to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency about what he has. The inspector tells Godell that Foster-Sullivan Construction "has their own security men".

Will the public see Adams' footage? Will Godell and his intermediary live to tell what they know? A shocking conclusion as Ventana reaches a near-cataclysmic conclusion. 

I think The China Syndrome kept to a certain level of paranoia that 1970-era films seem to have in spades. Part of me finds the idea that a construction company has hired hitmen at the ready to literally kill anyone who comes close to revealing trade secrets a bit outlandish. The same goes for the evil nuclear corporation, which would rather bring about a meltdown than let Godell go on the air. However, that has to happen to up the tension. As such, The China Syndrome works excellently as a thriller.

The China Syndrome also has a collection of strong performances, ably guided by James Bridges (who cowrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay with T.S. Cook and Mike Grey). The film centers around, I would argue, Jane Fonda as Kimberly Wells. Fonda gave an outstanding, Oscar-nominated performance. Fonda makes Wells into an intelligent and principled figure. She wants to advance into serious journalism but also accepts that oddball stories like aquarium maintenance is what keeps her foot in the door.

Wells is outraged and irritated by Richard Adams' behavior. Part of it is due to her sense that he is putting her job at risk. Kimberly Wells is a professional, and Adams' theft puts her on the hook. She also objects to breaking the law overall. Fonda plays Wells like a fully rounded individual, one who is determined to follow the story. She also, surprisingly, is not an activist. Wells is by no means some wild-eyed radical. She, instead, is someone whose years of training have made listening to both sides instinctive. She won't accept Adams' views of the dangers at face value. She's willing to listen to the nuclear power company's side and judge for herself. It is only after hearing from others at the NRC hearing that Wells begins to shift.

Fonda has a standout moment with Jack Lemmon, who like her received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Lemmon brought a brilliant nervous manner to his role as Jack Godell. What makes Lemmon brilliant in the role is that he is not an antagonist. He isn't a villain either. Instead, Lemmon plays Godell as a decent, honorable man who actually is in favor of nuclear power. He, like Fonda's Wells, is not a radical. He's a perfectly average man who is appalled by the laxity, complacency and arrogance of his superiors.

Lemmon brings a genuine pathos blended with terror as Godell. He sees what both sides do not: the promise and peril of nuclear power. It is Godell's sincerity and faith, when it is shattered, that makes Jack Lemmon's performance such a standout. One sees the struggle he has between doing what is right and seeing others he trusted doing what not only is wrong but detrimental to everyone. You identify with Godell, making his end shocking and tragic.

Michael Douglas, who produced the film, has a smaller but no less effective role as Richard Adams, renegade cameraman. He is sharp and sarcastic, filled with a moral outrage. Other roles were also well-acted. James Hampton, who was a more comedic actor, balanced being pleasant and cowardly as executive Bill Gibson. I would say that Richard Herd chewed some scenery as the villainous executive Evan McCormack, willing to kill everyone in California for a buck. Credit, however, for how Bridges filmed the hostage sequence. We get moments of pure silence and McCormack's point-of-view, a malevolent force looking down on Godell and Wells. 

The China Syndrome does an excellent job building up the tension of the impending calamity. It is especially strong during that hostage/meltdown sequence. As things spiral out of control, the film does not let up on the suspense of how it will end.

It is curious that The China Syndrome has a very good song, Somewhere in Between, that opens the film. It plays as if it were a song heard on the news van, but it works within the film. 

The China Syndrome is a product of its time. We have protesters essentially saying, "Think of the children!". Another shot shows a group of them with taped mouths, showing that theatrical protests did not start with Zoomers. 

Overall, though, The China Syndrome works on every level. Hopefully, the actual China syndrome will never work. 

DECISION: B+