- Paul Devlin Directs BLAST! - Photo Courtesty of Florida Film Festival
BLAST! was screened at its Southeast Premiere in the American Independent Competition at the 2009 Florida Film Festival.
What is BLAST?
Filmmaker Paul Devlin (SlamNation, Power Trip) sets out to prove that science films don’t have to be boring. The scientific method can be a tedious, painstaking process that ultimately relies on chance – including strong winds, rain clouds, and an errant glove – but it can still be exciting nonetheless. Especially so, when the goal of the research is to study the origin of the universe and how galaxies are formed.
Cosmologists Dr. Mark Devlin and Dr. Barth Netterfield and a team of graduate students put their families, friends, and personal lives on hold for weeks and months at a time in order to launch BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope) into the upper atmosphere to capture photographs from thousands of light years away. A special telescope installed in a NASA high-altitude balloon can provide answers to many unanswered questions about our world. Ideally, these pictures will provide keys to the formation of the universe and a glimpse into the past – essentially the next best thing to time travel.
Where is BLAST?
Shot on location in Arctic Sweden, northern Canada, and McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica by Devlin’s filmmaker brother, Paul, the cooperation between the documentarian and the subjects in BLAST! offers a unique perspective that outsiders may not have been able to obtain. Not only do viewers get to peek inside the laboratory, but can watch as carefully laid plans go awry, PhDs lose their tempers, and scientists give their views on God. Director-producer-editor Devlin also provides an insider’s look at how these long-term expeditions affect his brother’s family.
While not exactly a blast, this science documentary does hold viewer interest and attempts to explain difficult concepts in easily understood language. The high-definition scenes at McMurdo Research Station capture the frigid atmosphere and launch action beautifully. One benefit (the filmmaker’s closeness to the top scientist) is also its weakness. Paul Devlin doesn’t tell us enough about the other members of the team, so they remain stuck in their roles as scientists and students only, which makes them far less interesting in the universal scheme of things.
- Blast!
- Cosmologist Dr. Mark Devlin and his team of astrophysicists attempt to launch a “Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope” into the upper atmosphere in order to provide answers about the origin of the universe.
- Cast: Mark Devlin, Barth Netterfield, Victor Davison, Jeff Klein
- Director: Paul Devlin
- Run Time: 74 minutes
- Genre: Documentary
To learn more about independent documentaries, read Art & Copy Examines Aesthetics of Ads and Young @ Heart Movie Review.
Leslie C. Halpern - Leslie C. Halpern, Romantic Films/Comedies Topic Editor, authored Passionate About Their Work, Reel Romance, & Dreams on Film.
