Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War Review – Netflix documentary takes a bleak look at the past and present

Season 1

 

 

Episode Guide

The Sun Came Up Tremendous
Poisoning the Soil
Institutional Insanity
The Wall
War Games
Empire Is Untenable
The End of History
Moscow Will Not Be Silent
We Are Not Dead Yet

 

Netflix have a knack for creating long, in-depth documentary series and have been at it for over a decade now. Lately, the streamer has turned its attention to historical documentaries about the biggest wars that have consumed our planet. After World War II: From the Frontlines, and fresh off the Oscar success of Oppenheimer, there could be no better time than now to explore the ramifications and impact the Cold War has had on our planet – and continues to have to this day.

Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror came out in 2021 and it did a great job at building up the narrative around the attack on the Twin Towers. It combined archival footage and interviews with talking head experts and a detailed timeline explaining everything that took place. The Bomb and the Cold War is the next in Turning Point’s ongoing series, and it’s certainly a detailed, dense watch.

Split across 9 episodes, each lasting about 65 minutes a pop averagely, the documentary begins with the end of World War II and dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan, and works its way through the decades that follow.

In essence, the show details the creation of the atomic bomb, the spread of nuclear arms, and the ramifications this has had on our planet – and continues to in the present.

Expect everything from the Bay of Pigs and John F. Kennedy’s nail-biting resolution with Fidel Castro in Cuba, all the way across to Putin’s rise in power in Russia. Eventually, we end with an ominous final episode that looks at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what this means for the world at large.

There’s an awful lot of information in here and if you’re after an explanation over how our history has shaped our present, specifically through the Cold War, you’re unlikely to find another doc that dives into quite so much detail as this one.

Netflix are well and truly riding the hype train right now with Oppenheimer’s win, and if you’re at all interested in the true history around everything, this one is definitely worth checking out.


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  • Verdict - 8/10
    8/10
8/10

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