Story by Spencer Gordon
Photo provided by Into Eternity

Into Eternity
Directed by Michael Madsen
Not Rated but if it was, PG
I walked into Michael Madsen’s film Into Eternity with just minor curiosity. Later today Ethos’ movie night at the Bijou Arts Cinemas will be showing this film to help raise money to send the next issue to print. Into Eternity is the only movie I’ve ever been “assigned” to review so I was obviously a bit hesitant about the choice. However, I’m happy to say that the film is a wonderful pick for tonight’s festivities.
Into Eternity dives straight into one of the world’s most controversial topics: nuclear waste removal. Scientists haven’t found a use for it yet, and it regrettably takes a remarkable 100,000 years for the material to be safe to humans. The globe has numerous nuclear storage facilities, but these “cooling plants” are only a temporary solution.
There is one interesting development in Finland that happens to be the main topic of Into Eternity. The country has started production on the world’s first permanent nuclear waste storage facility that is supposed to last for 100,000 years. The storage base (called Onkalo) is located deep in the lush forests of Finland where there is a massive underground assortment of rocks that provides a shield to the waste’s deadly radiation. The construction is expected to take 100 years, and then the Finnish government plans to fill in the tunnel with all of their nuclear waste and keep it underground for ideally 100,000 years.
Into Eternity explores the obvious question that arises from this project: “What now?”
In addition to a very enticing topic, Madsen’s filmmaking makes the viewing experience engrossing. Madsen shot Into Eternity with a sense of ominous skepticism, an approach that is rarely seen in documentaries. I was hooked from the first shot of the film, which showed Madsen lighting a match while being in a dark tunnel. He interviews many European experts with either deep knowledge on waste management or the Onkalo project, and I could tell through their interviews that Madsen was asking intelligent and thought-provoking questions. Each expert seemed baffled or uneasy when asked such pressing questions. In this way, Madsen is able to interview these experts while maintaing the ominous feeling that heightens our interests throughout Into Eternity.
Another thing that I loved about this documentary was the short run time. Most documentaries are plagued with scenes that seem like a cheap ploy to gain the audience’s sympathy. These part include people crying or pleading for something, which deviates from the real subject matter. Into Eternity isn’t asking for sympathy. Its clever filmmaking allows the audience to enjoy the film without asking—something future documentaries should try to recreate.
Madsen created this film to be a sort of time capsule for future generations about what is going on in Finland and potentially the rest of the world. I don’t know if DVDs will even be around 100,000 years from now, but if they are, Into Eternity‘s message and filmmaking are strong enough that the movie will remain as relevant then as it is now.

Grade: A for exploring a fascinating topic and staying engrossing as well as entertaining from start to finish.