The acting, costumes, and sets for this period piece are all excellent and engaging. The depiction of political indoctrination and group dynamics was accurate. When the reason for disclosure of nuclear secrets is revealed, I docked 2 stars. While I'm sure that the rationale of the traitors was historically accurate, the writers obviously did not bother to hire a sufficiently competent military or intelligence advisor. Had they done this, they would have at least provided the rebuttal to scientists who hastened Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) via Soviet nukes. They wrongly presumed that the United States would ever use a nuclear first strike in an act of aggression, rather than saving 5 million lives, as they did for Japan and America, when choosing to drop the bomb in WW2. The years after Hiroshima until the Soviets obtained the nuke proved that point.
The next wrong presumption is that Soviet nuclear power decreased war casualties by preventing another World War through MAD. That presumes that the world had conditions for another World War, which were somehow abated by MAD. In truth, Soviet acquisition of nuclear missiles allowed them to instigate proxy wars along with China across Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, which slaughtered millions of people, and brought tyranny to millions more. Without the deterrence of US nuclear superiority, Europe, Asian allies, and America had to confront the communist proxy wars with containment and spheres of influence, unable to assist the rest of Asia with prosperity and peace like Japan and S. Korea.
So they can carry the false narrative that Soviet nukes were beneficial to humanity, as they did in this movie. But those millions of families who still suffer from the brutality of Pol Pot, Mao Zedong et. Al., are not so easy to kick to the curb for those of us who know history. When the scriptwriters presented the question of scientists (who ostensibly care more for humanity than for nationality), versus the politicians and military officers (who ostensibly care more about power and nationality than humanity), they deliberately took the side of the "humanistic" scientists. Which is precisely an inversion of reality. History proved those "humanistic" scientists wrong about MAD leading to peace. And if they weren't so arrogant, they would've left that determination to the military officers and political science experts who accurately predicted the dangers of communist nuclear armament. If the scriptwriters had conveyed this message, the movie would deserve 8 stars.
The next wrong presumption is that Soviet nuclear power decreased war casualties by preventing another World War through MAD. That presumes that the world had conditions for another World War, which were somehow abated by MAD. In truth, Soviet acquisition of nuclear missiles allowed them to instigate proxy wars along with China across Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, which slaughtered millions of people, and brought tyranny to millions more. Without the deterrence of US nuclear superiority, Europe, Asian allies, and America had to confront the communist proxy wars with containment and spheres of influence, unable to assist the rest of Asia with prosperity and peace like Japan and S. Korea.
So they can carry the false narrative that Soviet nukes were beneficial to humanity, as they did in this movie. But those millions of families who still suffer from the brutality of Pol Pot, Mao Zedong et. Al., are not so easy to kick to the curb for those of us who know history. When the scriptwriters presented the question of scientists (who ostensibly care more for humanity than for nationality), versus the politicians and military officers (who ostensibly care more about power and nationality than humanity), they deliberately took the side of the "humanistic" scientists. Which is precisely an inversion of reality. History proved those "humanistic" scientists wrong about MAD leading to peace. And if they weren't so arrogant, they would've left that determination to the military officers and political science experts who accurately predicted the dangers of communist nuclear armament. If the scriptwriters had conveyed this message, the movie would deserve 8 stars.