THE GREATEST FORCE ON EARTH LIVE

Frank Bools

The Oral History Project was an incredible success, the testimonies of the veterans will be held in perpetuity at the British Library for generations to listen to and understand how the testing program affected the participants.

The Oral History project also included a film created by Sascha Snow entitled ‘The Greatest Force on Earth Live' this short documentary follows Frank Bools as he travels to Christmas Island in 1958 and his life after the testing program.

Love and death. Creation and destruction. Harmony and conflict. How do these great polarities of human existence play out over a lifetime?

Frank Bools was a young man from Yorkshire who was recruited as a Royal Engineer to help build a base for the British nuclear test programme. In 1958 he travelled via Hong Kong to Christmas Island, a remote atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

From there he witnessed a destructive force 1,000 times greater than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

But this was not the force that shaped Frank’s life.

‘The Greatest Force On Earth’ is a short film about one life. It explores the elemental forces of creation and destruction in simple terms. And given the subject, it doesn’t deliver the story of doom that the audience might be expecting.

You can watch the film below, emerge yourself in Frank’s life, transport yourself into the 1950s and travel with Frank on his journey.

Conclusion

This film follows the journey of one man, thousands of others made the same journey to Christmas Island and other destinations for British Nuclear testing, they lives were forever effected by this time. Every journey was different, but their experiences of feeling the heat, the blast and seeing the deadliest of man's creations means they share a common bond.

Sascha Snow has managed to capture a very personal journey, one which encapsulates the best and worst that mankind can offer, destruction on a massive scale, combined with a love story. An incredible achievement.

This is a very personal journey for Frank, one which will now be shown to future generations. We must never forget the testing program and the effects on the participants and the planet.

You can listen to the Oral Histories on the British Library website at https://www.bl.uk/stories/explore/nuclear-test-veterans

We would like to thank everyone involved in the Oral History Project for their dedication and professionalism in ensuring that this project was delivered in such an incredible way for generations to come. We would also like to thank the Office for Veterans Affairs for funding the project.  

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AI Statement of Use

This film uses archive footage from declassified nuclear tests that have been enhanced using AI techniques such as slow motion, frame interpolation, upscaling and colourisation. This helps improve the clarity and visual quality of the original recordings, which were often degraded or limited by the technology of the time. Experiencing these shots with enhanced detail brings the devastating power of atomic weapons into focus and offers a clearer perspective on their catastrophic potential and impact.

In the age of AI, filmmakers, storytellers and audiences will need to bring our common humanity back home to where meaning, belonging and purpose are revealed by emotional truth.