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After “Spaltprozesse” (“Nuclear Split”) and “Restrisiko” (“Residual Risk”) comes Bertram Verhaag’s and Claus Strigel’s third documentary film on the topic of nuclear energy: “Das Achte Gebot” (“The Eighth Commandment”).

This film is not an investigation of the scientific arguments for and against nuclear energy. It doesn’t deal with graphite reactors or breeders, or with the effects of radiation. This is a film about one thing: the way we relate to one another. Its focus is on the methods used by the masters of nuclear energy, the language used by the operators, the rhetorical tools of the power station managers, the empty jargon of the spokespeople and the lies of the politicians. It begins with documents showing that, over the course of 5 decades, in every nuclear state, people have had the wool pulled over their eyes. It spans the period from the very first prototype reactor to the aborted attempt to build a reprocessing plant at Wackersdorf; from nuclear tests in Nevada to the devastating events at Chernobyl.