Poligon, essais nucleaires Sovietiques

It has been known for a long time now that nuclear tests in the Soviet Union were executed without telling the population to take precautionary measures. The Communist regime always denied this, but it is clear now that the situation is even worse than many experts suspected. Poligon, essais nucleaires sovietiques examines the consequences of the underground and overground atomic tests performed for decades in a remote area in Kazakhstan. Without previous warning the population, mainly consisting of farmers and herdsmen, was exposed to radioactive radiation. The resulting illnesses were kept back from the outside world for years. Not only the senior generation is showing physical symptoms of radioactive contamination, many children have complaints, too. Apart from topical footage the film contains unique archive footage of Russian atomic tests. On the basis of research in the Red Army records, the film also discusses the nuclear strategies of the Soviet Union at that time.