Pu-239 2006

     This film is based on a novel by Ken Kalfus published April 1, 2013.  Timofey lives in Russia and he works as a technician in a nuclear facility.  He’s a family man with a wife and a seven year-old son.  There is an accident and he is exposed to 1000 REMs (Roentgen Equivalent Man) of radiation.  The director of the facility hides his level of exposure and tells him he has received 100 REMs.  He also tries to blame Timofey for the accident and he puts him on unpaid leave.  Timofey checks his badge and he learns his actual exposure level.  He steals 100 mg of plutonium and he intends to sell it on the black market for $30,000.  He wants to give this money to his wife for them to live on after he dies.

     There is a good premise for the nuclear aspect of this film but it drifts away on a sideline with a small-time criminal, gangsters and mobsters.  Shiv, Vlad and Yegor are very deficient in the brains department and they try to make money any way they can.  2* (I didn’t like this movie)

97 min, Drama directed by Scott Z. Burns with Paddy Considine, Oscar Isaac, Valeriu Pavel Dan, Radha Mitchell, Kenneth Bryans, Connor McIntyre, Derek Hutchinson, Jason Flemyng, Jordan Long.

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 57% critic 68% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 28 reviews.

Special Note:  This film is also titled The Half Life of Timofey Berezin.  Plutonium-239 is the primary isotope used for nuclear weapons but uranium-235 has also been used.  239 is usable as fuel in nuclear reactors along with uranium-235 and uranium-233.  The half-life is 24,110 years!!  Half-life means the level of decay that is equal to half of the initial value.  REM means a complex weighted average of absorbed dose.